Taiwan Automakers to See Increased Exports to Japan's Technical Partners in 2008

Taipei, April 24, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan automakers saw exports to their Japanese technical partners' plants at home and abroad (including both assembled vehicles and auto parts) decline by 16% in 2007 for the first time, but the exports are expected to increase by 10% to 20% this year.

Statistics compiled by Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (TTVMA) showed that total exports of local automakers maintaining technical cooperation ties with Japanese partners came to US$1.05 billion, down 16.03% from US$1.25 billion in 2006.

The declining export value and lackluster sales of new cars in the past two years have forced local automakers to seeking more export chances.

China Motor Corp. (CMC), in partnership with Mitsubishi Motors of Japan, pointed out that it recently signed a technical cooperation agreement with Premier Group of India to allow local production of a mini commercial vehicle model there. CMC is expected to export about 3,000 unit/sets key parts to India from this year.

In addition, CMC has won Mitsubishi Japan's permission to export locally assembled Delica commercial van model to Mexico for sales there under Dodge's brand logo. In the second half this year, CMC will also export some key parts to Mitsubishi's Vietnam plant for the production of its Zinger commercial/recreational van model.

In total, CMC is expected to export over 70,000 unit/sets key parts and 5,000 to 6,000 assembled cars this year, both to grow by at least 10% from last year.

Yulon Motor Co., which locally produces Nissan car models, said that it has won permission from Nissan Japan to export over 1,000 unit/sets of some parts for the Nissan Serena multi-purpose van (MPV) produced by Zhenzhou Nissan in mainland China per month, and match Nissan's global deployment to supply parts to Nissan's factories in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt etc. Yulon expects to export NT$700 million (US$22.95 million at US$1: NT$30.5) worth of auto parts this year.

In addition, Yulon is also expected to export over NT$3 billion (US$98.36 million) worth, or 5,000 units, of the locally assembled Nissan Cabstar diesel-engine trucks to Mexico this year.

Ford Lio Ho Motor Co., the local subsidiary of Ford of the United States, is scheduled to begin exporting locally made Ford Escape sport utility vehicle (SUV) model to Russia in the second quarter. The company estimated that it would export at least NT$5 billion (US$163.93 million) worth of parts and assembled vehicles this year to Mazda of Japan (Ford's subsidiary).

Taiwan Auto Makers' Exports to Japanese Technical Partners
Auto Maker	Japanese Technical Partner	Export Value	YoY	Export/Import Ratio	Required Ratio
Kuozui	Toyota, Hino	US$183.3 M.	-23.4%	49.73%	22%
China Motor	Mitsubishi	US$396.2 M.	-15.3%	200.87%	22%
Yulon	Nissan	US$297.1 M.	-7.66%	141.01%	22%
Ford Lio Ho	Mazda	US$140.3 M.	-14.2%	63.72%	22%
Prince	Suzuki	US$23.5 M.	0.47%	23.79%	22%
Isuzu Taiwan	Isuzu	US$9.8 M.	-1.87%	23.52%	20%
Honda Taiwan	Honda	US$28.8 M.	18.49%	38.24%	8%
Total		US$1.05 B.	-16.3%	92.35%
Source: TTVMA.