Total car sales nationwide last month grew 5 percent from March because fewer customers were waiting for prices to go down amid the depreciation of the yen, the latest industrial data showed yesterday.
Sales of new vehicles reached 28,844 units last month, up 5 percent from 27,472 units the previous month and 0.8 percent from 28,613 cars a year ago, statistics compiled by the data communication branch of Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) showed.
From January through last month, total car sales reached 119,131, down 4.2 percent from the previous year, data showed.
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus models, continued to lead the market, selling 9,848 units last month to hold a market share of 34.1 percent.
Hotai yesterday said its car sales last month grew 0.6 percent from a year ago and 23.4 percent from a month ago.
“The monthly increase was mainly due to stronger sales of Toyota-brand cars, as sales of imported brands such as Lexus remained flat last month,” a Hotai official who declined to be named said by telephone.
“Although total car sales from January through last month were still 4.2 percent lower than a year earlier, we believe sales can pick up later this year as large-scale promotions begin,” he said.
China Motor Corp (CMC, 中華汽車), No. 2 in the market, sold 3,482 cars to gain a market share of 12.1 percent.
Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) came in third with 3,289 cars sold and a 11.4 percent market share, the data showed.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six