General Motors Corp will sell its first gas-electric hybrid cars in China in July, introducing a model created in part by GM’s Shanghai design center, the company said yesterday.
The Buick LaCrosse will be the second hybrid to enter the Chinese automobile market following Toyota Motor Corp’s Prius in early 2006.
The LaCrosse was expected to be unveiled today at the Beijing auto show, GM managers said. They said it would be priced under 300,000 yuan (US$43,000) — comparable to the Prius.
“We don’t expect to see a very high volume of sales of this car in China in a short period of time. But we bring this technology to help China support sustainable growth and bring consumers in that direction,” Joseph Liu (劉曰海), GM China’s vice president for sales, told reporters.
The car was developed with contributions from GM’s Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in Shanghai, said Maryann Combs, president of the center.
Hybrids improve fuel efficiency and cut emissions by generating extra power from the brakes as a vehicle tops. But they also cost more because they require both gasoline and electric motors.
GM said the LaCrosse would be the first hybrid made in China. The Prius is assembled from imported parts.
Toyota has sold about 2,500 Priuses in China since 2006 but sales are slowing in part because Chinese drivers are unfamiliar with hybrids, reports in the industry press said.
GM has made China, the world’s second-biggest and fastest-growing vehicle market, a key part of its efforts to develop alternative power sources. It announced plans in October for a US$250 million fuel research center in Shanghai.
Chairman Rick Wagoner took part yesterday in the opening of an automotive energy research center partly financed by GM at Tsinghua University in Beijing, the alma mater of Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
GM says it sold just over 1 million vehicles in China last year.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
RSS