Several leading Japanese automobile manufacturers have decided to use Taiwanese talent to crack the Chinese car market, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday.
In trying to make inroads into the huge mainland market, almost all the Japanese auto makers have been facing the problem of a lack of suitable management, translation and marketing personnel, the report said.
Some of the Japanese automakers, as a result, have turned to Taiwan for a solution, the report said.
Taking Toyota as an example, the report said the leading Japanese auto maker has decided to use personnel from its Taiwanese operations to work in its newly established plant in Guangzhou.
The Toyota plant in Guangzhou, which will mainly produce the company's Camry models, is taking advantage of the Taiwanese staff's skills in auto manufacturing, proficiency in the Japanese and Chinese languages, and ability to adapt to the Chinese business and cultural environment, the report said.
Another leading Japanese automaker, Honda, which has also established a manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, has assigned some 200 employees from Japan to the city for the purpose of meeting its initial target of producing 240,000 cars a year. However, the company has been experiencing difficulties finding employees skilled in both auto manufacturing and the Chinese language, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the increasing presence of Japanese companies in Guangdong has led to a new fad among locals -- namely studying Japanese. Nevertheless, the report said, the supply of Japanese-speaking talent remains far below demand.
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