Nine Audi A8L armored vehicles are to begin their service to president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her entourage starting on her inauguration on May 20, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Volkswagen (VW) Taiwan outbid BMW’s Taiwan franchise in a National Security Bureau (NSB) procurement tender to replace the BMW 740Li — the current presidential vehicle — with the Audi A8L, they said.
The NSB procurement aimed to purchase nine five-seater armored security vehicles for the five-car presidential motorcade and the four-vehicle vice presidential motorcade, with nine Audi A8L cars to be used as presidential sedans offered at NT$31.09 million (US$923,923), according to an NSB budget plan.
The cars are scheduled to be delivered by mid-April after the NSB awarded the bid to VW Taiwan, the people said.
The BMW 740Li has served as presidential vehicles for the past 12 years, since 2004 during the second term of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
All models that VW Taiwan and BMW’s Taiwan franchise offered for the bid met NSB security requirements, while the tender was done publicly and the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, with VW Taiwan securing the bid with a “fairly favorable price,” they said.
The presidential motorcade, comprising the presidential vehicle, a backup car and security vehicles, would be made of the same models with identical looks, sources said, adding that to ensure the safety of president, the vehicle to be customized as the presidential car would undergo special modifications, such as bulletproofing and having armor plates.
The government commissioned Cadillac vehicles for presidential use during the tenure of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), whereas Cadillac and Mercedes cars were used as presidential vehicles during terms of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), said a retired official, who asked not to be named.
An elongated Lincoln limousine was used as the presidential sedan in Chen’s first term, and the BMW 740Li and the Ford E350 armored van were used alternatively in his second term, while the BMW 740Li served as the official state car throughout Ma’s two terms, the retired official said.
A sport utility vehicle from Land Rover’s Discovery series was commissioned to ferry presidential candidates during campaigning for the presidential and legislative elections earlier this month.
Besides ensuring the safety of the president, presidential cars are often considered a symbol of a nation’s automobile industry, so nations often adopt domestically manufactured cars as state vehicles, such as the Citroen DS5 used by French President Francois Hollande, the Toyota Camry hybrid used by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Hongqi L5 used by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been known for her penchant for Audi vehicles and she doubled as an Audi product endorser to unveil the company’s new models to promote the German automobile industry, while an Audi A8L armored model is used as Germany’s official state car.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS