Volkswagen’s Czech brand Skoda has kept grabbing local customers’ attention, as its sales surged 78 percent to 2,258 vehicles in the first half of the year, from 1,270 a year ago.
After hard work revamping its brand and a major realignment in its distribution network, Skoda has high hopes for sales growth this year, Skoda Taiwan public relations official Nelly Liao (廖英瑛) said by telephone yesterday.
Liao said Skoda aims to sell 4,200 cars this year, up 40 percent from last year.
“We are confident of [reaching] the annual sales [target],” she said, adding that the company has already surpassed half of its target.
The latest industry data indicated that Skoda climbed high in the local rankings of imported vehicles. The brand was ranked third in imported non-luxury cars last month, after Mazda and Suzuki, according to local automobile information Web site u-car.com.
The success for the latecomer in the local market might derive from the establishment of its local branch, which was just set up last year.
Liao said the company has launched several effective strategies to increase Skoda’s market share, including an upgrade of sales channels, an increase in its vehicle lineup and well coordinated after-sale services.
“We have 10 car dealers across the nation,” Liao said. “And it is important for us to upgrade our dealers to provide better services.”
Sun Pek (尚鵬), Skoda’s main car dealer in Taipei, recently moved its Neihu District (內湖) showroom to a better location and established its after-sales service center in the Nangang District (南港), targeting more potential customers.
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Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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