Hyundai Motor Co, Korea's largest automaker, will allow Taiwan's Sanyang Industrial Co (
Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, severed ties with Sanyang in January to set up its own Taiwan subsidiary to sell automobiles.
Japan's second-largest automaker will initially spend NT$170 million to set up the subsidiary with operations beginning in March, said Satoshi Toshida (
Toshida declined to spell out the reason for the break-up at a press conference held in Taipei, saying only that the new firm will "reduce production costs" and "increase competitiveness."
But Honda may have pulled out because of Sanyang's decision to buy three vehicle companies in China and Vietnam in 2000 from parent ChinFon Group (
"Sanyang will stop making Honda automobiles after our parts inventory is diminished, but Hyundai will revive us," spokesman Yeh Fong-ming (
Sanyang plans to convert its production lines to Hyundai's specifications by September and produce 4,000 Hyundai cars this year, Yeh said. Sanyang plans to produce about 6,000 Honda cars this year, compared with 17,000 in 2001.
Honda last accounted for about 6 percent of Taiwan's vehicle market, including cars imported from Japan.
Amid the nation's worst recession on record, Taiwan's automobile market contracted a sharp 17.4 percent last year, with about 347,433 cars sold, down from more than 420,467 the previous year, local media reported, citing statistics from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
While some industry experts have expressed optimism that sales would recover in the third quarter of the year if the domestic economy rebounds, consumers may remain cautious, said Jeffrey Shen (
"Our studies found that sales will be about 350,000 units this year," Shen told the Taipei Times during an interview in early March.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
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