Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), a subsidiary of Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), yesterday said it is again offering a NT$100,000 discount for its entry-level n7 electric vehicle models.
The n7’s price has gone down from NT$1.099 million to NT$999,000, Luxgen said, adding that there are 25,000 preorders for the model.
MG Motor’s electric hatchback, the MG4, entered the market in the middle of last month, with a starting price of NT$990,000.
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which distributes MG vehicles in Taiwan, said it aims to sell 1,600 MG4s this year.
MG, originally a British brand, was acquired by China’s SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車) in 2005.
Asked about competition from MG in the entry-level electric vehicle segment, Luxgen president Jeff Lee (李應生) yesterday said he was not worried, given the difference in target consumers.
The n7 series includes multi-purpose vehicles suitable for families, while MG4 is a compact sports car, he said.
Luxgen started taking new orders for the n7 series last month, after smooth delivery at the beginning of the year, Lee said, adding that the company expects to deliver all the first preorders in the third quarter.
With the number of n7 owners increasing to more than 30,000, Luxgen said it plans to double its n7 experience centers this year from five to 10.
Luxgen had sold 1,037 n7 models last month, marking the third consecutive month of monthly sales exceeding 1,000 units, while MG4 sales reached 122 units last month, the latest data for new car sales released yesterday showed.
Toyota Motor Corp’s vehicles, distributed by Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車) in Taiwan, remained on top, selling 9,689 units last month, down 7.7 percent month-on-month. It has a market share of 23.3 percent.
Tesla Inc outperformed its peers last month, with sales soaring 214 percent sequentially to 3,898 units, giving the US electric vehicle carmaker a 9.4 percent market share and placing second in local car rankings, data compiled by market researcher U-Car showed.
Lexus, the luxury brand of Toyota, ranked No. 3, with sales rising 5.1 percent month-on-month to 2,628 units last month. Lexus has a 6.3 percent market share.
Mercedes-Benz AG, with a 5.7 percent market share, ranked No. 4. It sold 2,376 units, down 11 percent from May.
BMW AG showed the strongest performance, with sales doubling to 2,280 units, boosted by record-high electric vehicle sales of 984 units last month. BMW has a 5.5 percent market share.
Overall, Taiwan’s new car sales last month edged up 0.3 percent to 41,587 units from May, fueled by strong electric vehicle growth, U-Car data showed.
That brought total new car sales during the first half of this year to 232,503 units, down one percent from the same period of last year, it said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip