Automotive components maker Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co (和大工業) on Thursday reported record sales of NT$1.72 million (US$56.93 million) for the third quarter, a 23.76 percent surge from NT$1.39 billion in the same period last year.
That brought its sales in the first three quarters of this year to NT$5.07 billion, a 18.71 percent increase year-on-year from NT$4.27 billion, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Hota attributed the strong performance to increasing orders from US-based BorgWarner Inc and Belgium-based Punch Powertrain NV, two tier-one automotive parts suppliers for global car brands.
To meet rapidly growing customer demand, the company said its three new automated and “smart” production lines would begin mass production later this month.
As part of its mid-term expansion plans, Hota intends to increase the number of smart production lines at its plant in the Chiayi Dapumei Precision Machinery Park (嘉義大埔美精密機械園區) from seven this year to 14 by the end of 2019.
The company declined to elaborate on its capital budget for the ongoing capacity expansion in Chiayi.
Hota might build new plants in the US in light of cheaper land and transportation costs, company chairman David Shen (沈國榮) said earlier this year, mentioning South Carolina and Nevada as possible locations.
BorgWarner, Hota’s largest customer, has several plants in South Carolina, while electric carmaker Tesla Inc operates a factory to produce batteries for its vehicles and energy products in Nevada.
Customers from North America contribute nearly 70 percent of Hota’s total sales, company data show.
Hota’s business outlook is optimistic after the company secured a NT$5 billion order of torque converters from major carmakers — including Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co (GM) — for the next three years.
The company has set an ambitious annual sales target of NT$10 billion by 2020, compared with revenue of NT$5.78 billion for last year.
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