Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) said promotional campaigns by dealers and government policies would help stimulate consumer buying, despite a weak economy.
Overall, the nation’s auto sales for this year would be flat at 410,000 units, Yulon president Yao Chen-hsiang (姚振祥) said in an investors’ conference on Wednesday.
From January through last month, total car sales in Taiwan rose 0.4 percent annually to 138,950 units, with domestically assembled cars decreasing 3.27 percent, while imported cars gained 6.7 percent, according to a company report.
Yulon attributed the rise of imported car sales to favored exchange rates and more marketing activities for imported vehicles. The government also introduced a stimulus that provides NT$50,000 (US$1,524) in subsidies for new car buyers since January.
Yulon branded vehicles — produced by Luxgen Motor Co Ltd (納智捷) — sales in Taiwan dropped 9 percent annually to 4,930 units in the first four months and its China sales also plunged 24.2 percent to 14,047 units over the period, the company said.
In comparison, China’s car sales in the first four months rose 6.19 percent annually to 8.65 million units, Yulon said in the report.
China’s overall car market this year is forecast to increase 1.63 percent to 25 million units from last year, it said.
Yao said the declining sales in Luxgen vehicles was a “short-term” phenomenon, expecting a strong showing in full-year sales on future launches of new models.
Earlier this month, Yulon introduced the Luxgen S3 to Taiwanese and Chinese markets. The company also introduced the V7 Turbo Eco Hyper, designed for transporting elderly and disabled passengers, in a move to boost sales.
In the first quarter, Yulon’s net income decreased 28 percent annually to NT$6.29 billion, with earnings per share falling to NT$0.43 from NT$0.6 the same period a year earlier, due to investment losses from its subsidiaries Tai Yuen Textile Co (台元紡織) and Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co (東風裕隆). Consolidated revenue declined 7 percent to NT$29.46 billion from a year earlier, company data showed.
The company said construction for a land development project at its abandoned factory in New Taipei City’s Xindian District (新店) is slated to begin in the first quarter of next year.
With a capital investment of NT$40 billion, the large residential-and-commercial project project is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2020, Yao said.
Although slightly behind the original schedule to start construction this year, the plan to acquire the license for the business area to be operational in 2020 is still in line with the company’s expectations, he said.
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