Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) yesterday said it plans to start selling Leaf electric vehicles in Taiwan late next month to bolster sales momentum in the second half of this year after revenue decreased 3.44 percent year-on-year to NT$15.88 billion (US$502.1 million) in the first half.
The Leaf cars, now available for pre-order, have a range of 311km and a top speed of 90kph, a public relations official said.
“It only takes 40 minutes to charge the Leaf’s batteries to 80 percent through a DC charger and eight hours using an AC charger,” the official said.
The company’s sales of Nissan-branded vehicles soared 50.33 percent year-on-year to 3,910 units last month, he said, citing data compiled by the Directorate-General of Highways’ (DGH) motor vehicles offices.
That included Kicks and X-Trail sport utility vehicles, TIIDA and Livina compact vehicles, and Sentra sedans, he said.
In the first seven months, sales of Nissan vehicles increased 1.2 percent annually to 21,753 units, giving the brand an 8.5 percent market share, he said.
Kicks and Leaf vehicles would be a major driving force for sales in the second half, he said.
“Demand for Kicks has remained high since it entered the local market late last year, so we asked Nissan [Motor Co] for more quota to make sure supply is sufficient enough to meet the needs of the Taiwan market in the second half of the year,” he said.
Yulon Nissan’s net income rose 4.61 percent year-on-year to NT$3.09 billion in the January-to-June period, with earnings per share of NT$10.29, the company reported on Friday.
However, gross margin dropped from 18.99 percent to 15.37 percent in the period, it said.
The company last week gained approval from the Investment Commission to restructure its Chinese ventures from five to two and increase its shareholding in China’s Guangzhou Fengshen Automotive Co (廣州風神) from 40 percent to 42.69 percent, with positive effects of these changes likely to emerge this quarter, the official said.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
RSS