The production value of Taiwan’s auto industry is expected to grow marginally this year amid the gloomy global economy, a local research center said.
The output of the local auto sector, which includes automobiles, auto parts and motorcycles, is likely to total NT$434.82 billion (US$14.51 billion) this year, up 1.5 percent from last year, the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Research Center (IEK) said in a recent research note.
The sector benefited from the launch of new vehicle models and extended promotions announced by automakers in the first and second quarters, which boosted consumer buying, the government-funded center said.
Although local auto sales increased in July, the third quarter is the industry’s traditional low season, and a slight sequential drop is expected, the center predicted.
In July, Taiwan’s auto sales totaled 39,968 units, up 22.7 percent from June, but down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to government statistics.
In the first seven months of this year, local auto sales declined at about the same rate of 2 percent year-on-year to 222,295 units, the data showed.
In a separate report, IEK said revenue from local automobile parts would fall 1.4 percent to NT$48.2 billion this quarter, from the second quarter’s NT$48.86 billion.
IEK blamed continuing sluggish demand and weak private consumption in Europe and the US for the decline.
Revenue from Europe and the US accounted for 80 percent of automobile part export revenue, IEK said.
This year, local automobile part manufacturers are expected to grow their revenue by 1.2 percent to NT$198.86 billion from last year, helped by growing demand from emerging markets including China, Middle East and eastern Europe, the research house predicted.
Local carmaker Yulon Motor Co (裕隆) is seeking growth outside the home market.
The carmaker said last month that its Russian partner, Derways Automobile Co, had started manufacturing Luxgen-brand cars, marking the beginning of Yulon’s entrance into the Russian market.
Derways will also be responsible for selling Luxgen cars, Yulon president Yao Chen-hsiang (姚振祥) told a press conference in Taipei.
The Russian firm will begin selling Luxgen 7 sports utility vehicles next month, with a sales target of 500 cars a month, Yao said, adding that Yulon would introduce a new sedan to the Russian market next year.
According to Yulon, 3 million cars a year are sold in Russia.
Russia is Yulon’s second foreign market for Luxgen cars. It entered the Chinese market last year and sold 31,000 cars.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS