Auto parts maker Mobiletron Electronics Co (車王電子) aims to post 23.2 percent revenue growth to NT$3 billion (US$997 million) this year as the company enters new supply chains and increases its product lineup.
The company is to start supplying its voltage regulators to a Germany-based automaker this year for its aftersales service, company chairman Kim Tsai (蔡裕慶) told reporters on Wednesday last week.
In addition to Southeast Fujian Motor Corp (東南汽車), Chery Automobile Co (奇瑞汽車) and Chongqing Lifan Auto Co (立帆汽車), the company will also distribute its tire pressure monitoring systems to two new Chinese automakers this year, he said.
Tsai estimated that the company’s auto parts sales to automakers would account for 15 percent of Mobiletron Electronics’ revenue this year.
Utilizing its retail routes in Brazil, the UK, the US and China, the company plans to increase the number of products sold in its shops worldwide to 6,000 items in the next five years, from the current 4,000 items, Tsai said.
The company will subcontract the manufacturing of these new products to Chinese companies, he added.
From January through last month, the company posted 31.96 percent revenue growth to NT$650.65 million, up from NT$493.05 million the previous year, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Tsai said the company’s profit would also rise this year from NT$200.28 million, or NT$2.11 per share, last year.
Mobiletron Electronics’ subsidiaries in the UK and China swung into the black last year, and profits of its US, UK and Chinese subsidiaries would be higher than a year ago, Tsai said.
Tsai said the company spends about NT$300 million a year on its subsidiaries worldwide for setting up retail routes, and it takes 10 years for one overseas operation to become profitable.
The company plans to spend NT$100 million to NT$150 million in China to build a new factory in the fourth quarter this year, doubling its current capacity to accommodate the demand in the country, Tsai said.
Meanwhile, electric automaker Rac Electric Vehicle Inc (華德動能科技) will start trading its shares on the preparatory board Emerging Stock Market (興櫃市場) in the second half of this year, Tsai said.
Mobiletron Electronics owns a 20 percent share in Rac Electric, which will sell 100 to 150 buses in Taiwan and swing to the black this year, on the back of a government plan to subsidize local companies or governments to purchase 6,200 electric buses in the next 10 years, Tsai said, adding that Mobiletron Electronics is a major parts supplier for Rac Electric’s vehicles.
Last year, the nation’s total output of automotive electronics rose 12 percent to NT$133.9 billion, up from NT$111.6 billion a year earlier, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association vice chairman Joseph Cheng (鄭富雄) said.
According to Cheng, global output of automotive electronics is expected to increase to US$238.8 billion next year, from NT$197.5 billion last year.
“The industry’s greatest potential lies in driving information, safety assistance and automotive body electronics,” he said.
The growth momentum among Southeast Asian markets is strong, Cheng added.
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