Tong Yang May Top Global Automotive Bumper Production in 2013

Taipei, April 23, 2012 (CENS)--Tong Yang Industrial Co., Ltd., a maker of automotive body-parts in Taiwan, recently claimed that it will challenge global annual production capacity of 20 million bumpers by 2013 to be the largest maker of its kind in the world.

Tong Yang is expanding production capacity at its fourth factory operated by Chinese joint venture Chang Chun Faway Tong Yang (with China's First Auto Group), as well as constructing three factories (in Changsha of Hunan Province, Xiangyang of Hubei Province, and Fushan of Guangdong Province). In Taiwan, the maker is upgrading the coating lines at a factory in northern Taiwan's Taoyuan County to double its production capacity in the second half this year.

Crispin Wu, Tong Yang's president, pointed out that auto parts is expected to be included for duty reduction in the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China, which may drive international automakers as Ford, Nissan, Toyota to order parts from Taiwanese suppliers for the big Chinese market.

Eyeing future demand, Tong Yang had completed capacity expansion at its headquarter factory in Tainan, southern Taiwan, in 2011.

In the third quarter this year, after Chang Chun Faway Tong Yang's No. 4 factory is expanded and the new factory in Changsha kicks off mass production, Wu said, Tong Yang's global automotive-bumper production capacity would increase to about 15 million units. In the third quarter of 2013, when the new factories in Xiangyang and Fushan kick off production, the group's total annual bumper capacity would top about 20 million units.

In addition to the above-mentioned capacity expansion for the original equipment (OE) parts market, Wu said, Tong yang will also start projects to double its production and sales of aftermarket (AM) products.

According to Tong Yang, the annual capacity of AM auto bumpers at its Tainan factory has risen to about 8.5 million units, from about 7 million before the expansion; while the company's annual capacity of AM sheet-metal body parts has also greatly increased to about 4.2 million units now, from about 2.4 million before.