Yulon Motor Co (
Yulon will own 60 percent of the venture, with the remaining 40 percent held by Nissan, Yulon Vice chairman Kenneth Yan (嚴凱泰) said yesterday at a press gathering.
The venture with Nissan is part of Yulon's plan to further increase its competitiveness in the industry, Yan said. In doing so, the company decided to split Yulon into two companies -- one of which will be integrated into the new venture with Nissan.
The new company will be launched Oct. 1, with paid-in capital of around NT$3 billion, said Chen Kuo-rong (陳國榮), Yulon's senior executive vice president.
It will focus on sales, marketing, engineering and R&D of the Nissan vehicles in regional markets. The name of the new venture has yet to be finalized.
The company hopes to become listed on the Taiwan stock market within one year, Chen said.
The main company, with existing capital of NT$13.7 billion, will gradually develop itself into a holding company while continuing to make Nissan cars on an OEM basis in Taiwan, he added.
Yan praised the proposed cooperation with Nissan as these two companies have been working together for 44 years. He also said Nissan's competitiveness in terms of product development and financial strength is the key to Yulon's long-term success.
At home, Yulon is facing a highly competitive industry environment while vehicle sales have been shrinking over the past few years.
The automaker last year commanded about a 14.1 percent share of the 398,000 vehicles sold domestically.
Yan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn in Japan via a video teleconference after the markets closed.
Yulon shares gained NT$1.50, or 3.7 percent, to close at NT$42.10 on the TAIEX, while Nissan shares rose as much as 2.9 percent to Japanese Yen 910 in Tokyo.
"The new venture will allow Nissan to better utilize its Taiwanese partner to expand in the Chinese market," said David Liu (劉志清), manager of IBT Securities Investment Consulting Co (台灣工銀投顧).
Nissan hopes annual sales in China will reach 550,000 vehicles by 2006 and 900,000 within a decade through its Chinese car-making venture, Dongfeng Motor Corp (東風汽車), the company said. Fengshen Automotive Co (風神汽車), which builds and sells Nissan sedans in China, is 40 percent owned by Yulon and the rest controlled by Dongfeng.
"The new company will allow us to grow profitably in Taiwan, and support our growing presence in China," said Ghosn, who became chief operating officer of Nissan in June 1999, in Japan.
The move represents "a very important step in sustaining Nissan's momentum of profitable growth," he said.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS