Yulon Group (裕隆集團) this year aims to increase its vehicle sales in Taiwan and China by nearly 20 percent annually to 320,000 units, through new car models and government incentives, a company executive said yesterday.
The group last year sold 267,000 vehicles, Yulon vice chairman Chen Kuo-rong (陳國榮) told reporters.
Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), the group’s self-owned brand, is scheduled to launch a small sport utility vehicle (SUV) this year, while Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產), another subsidiary, is to introduce revamped versions of the Nissan Tiida small sedan and Infiniti Q60 luxury SUV, he said.
Subsidies offered by the Taiwanese and Chinese governments are also expected to stimulate the group’s sales this year, Chen said.
A Cabinet five-year subsidy program provides car owners with a NT$50,000 discount on commodity taxes when they purchase a new car within six months of exporting or scrapping their used cars.
The Taipei-headquartered group distributes Luxgen cars in the Chinese market via Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co (東風裕隆), which is a joint venture between Yulon Motor and China’s Dongfeng Automobile Co (東風汽車).
Yulon Group — which includes Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) and China Motor Corp (中華汽車) — aims to sell 113,000 vehicles in Taiwan this year, Chen said, adding that in China, the group expects its sales to rise to 206,000 units.
The company partly attributed continuing growth to Beijing’s tax incentives.
China this year is to continue to offer a 50 percent reduction to the purchase tax for small-engine cars, which could lift overall new auto sales in the market to more than 29 million units, Chen said.
The group also aims to expand its presence in China’s vehicle loan market.
Taiwan Acceptance Corp (裕融), one of its subsidiaries, began its car financing business in China last year and is expected to break even by the end of this year and become profitable next year, Yulon Group said.
It said its land development project in New Taipei City’s Xindian District (新店) would also break ground this year.
The group plans to obtain construction permits for the residential and commercial property project in the first half of this year and start construction in the fourth quarter at the earliest, it said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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