Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) on Thursday appointed company president Yao Chen-hsiang (姚振祥) as the new chairman of its own-brand automaker Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷) to fill the vacancy left by Chen Kuo-rong (陳國榮) and accelerate the company’s transformation.
The personnel adjustments took effect immediately.
The move was made with an eye to exploring more business opportunities in the automotive value chain and improving operating efficiency via vertical integration, Yulon said in a statement.
Photo: Yang Ya-min, Taipei Times
Yulon set up an integrated portfolio management team at its plant in Miaoli County to take charge of development, component procurement, vehicle manufacturing and marketing of Luxgen vehicles, the company said.
The team, headed by Yao, is to report directly to the company’s five-member decisionmaking committee.
Chen, one of Luxgen’s key promoters, had also handed in his resignation as chairman of Hua-chuang Automobile Information Technical Center (華創車電), but was persuaded by the company to stay.
The Yulon subsidiary mainly provides automobile engines, as well as chassis, electronic and other critical components to the group, its Web site showed.
Deepening losses from Hua-chuang, Luxgen Motor and Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co (東風裕隆), which distributes Luxgen cars in China, dragged Yulon’s bottom line.
Yulon posted losses of NT$937.26 million (US$30.18 million) in the first two quarters, from net profits of NT$1.38 billion in the same period last year, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
That translated into losses per share of NT$0.62 in the first half, compared with earnings per share of NT$0.94 a year earlier.
Yulon for the past 66 years had only been supplying auto parts to Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) and its own brand, but to buck profit and sales declines, it earlier this year expanded its business scope to include motorcycle manufacturing.
The company has been manufacturing motorcycles for Italy’s Adiva since June.
Yulon Motor has exported 205 motorcycles so far and expects shipments to reach 1,000 units this year and 2,000 next year, the company said, citing data from Adiva.
“We are open to taking orders to make both automobiles and motorcycles, and aim to provide total solutions for domestic and overseas customers,” Yulon Motor said.
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