Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) plans to launch a seven-seat sports utility vehicle (SUV) under its Luxgen (納智捷) brand in China by the end of this year, a company executive said yesterday.
“We are also planning to introduce upgraded models of the Luxgen U6, S3 and U5 in the second half of this year [in the Chinese market],” finance department general manager Steven Lo (羅文邑) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
Yulon also plans to launch an electric model in China this year, Lo said.
The company distributes Luxgen cars in China via its wholly owned subsidiary in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, while Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co (東風裕隆), its joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Motor Corp (東風汽車), is mainly responsible for manufacturing.
Fierce competition in China’s auto industry has not stopped the Taiwanese automaker from pouring investments and expanding distribution channels in the Chinese market, despite its sluggish sales there.
Yulon on Monday announced a plan to inject capital of 1 billion yuan (US$158.6 million) into the Hangzhou unit, as part of its effort to press ahead with the company’s “510” plan for Luxgen, under which it aims to introduce 10 new Luxgen models over the next five years.
The company last year booked a net loss of NT$5.35 billion (US$181.18 million) from its Chinese investments.
It also saw sales in China last year plunge 52.9 percent annually to 19,058 units from 40,500 units.
Yulon posted revenue of NT$23.73 billion for last quarter, down 4.73 percent from NT$24.9 billion in the same period last year, which the company attributed to slack sales in China.
Yulon has yet to release its earnings results for last quarter.
In the January-to-March quarter, it sold 5,743 Luxgen cars in Taiwan, a 14.2 percent increase from 5,027 a year earlier, while sales in China fell 43.8 percent to 3,124 units from 5,554 units, company data showed.
According to Yulon’s latest full-year forecast for Luxgen, the company expects to sell about 20,000 units in Taiwan, and between 20,000 and 24,000 units in China.
Yulon shares yesterday slipped 0.45 percent in Taipei trading to close at NT$22.2, outperforming the TAIEX, which fell 1.1 percent.
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