Hon Hai Group of Taiwan, recognized as the largest private manufacturer on the island and one of the world's largest EMS (electronics manufacturing services) providers, has been aggressively developing electric vehicle (EV)-related business in recent years, and expects to see some initial results soon. Industry sources said that an EV production venture set up this year by Hon Hai, Chinese Int...

With an eye on enhancing technological-innovation capability in Taiwan, Ford Lio Ho Motor Co., the local subsidiary of Ford Motor of the U.S., recently signed an agreement to cooperate with the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering (CSIE) of the National Taiwan University (NTU) in a vehicular Visible Light Communication (VLC) development project, which aims to improve driving...

Approximately 80 percent of Taiwan's auto-parts exports go to the international aftermarket, making the island one of the most important supply bases of such products. The U.S. has been the primary export target for Taiwan-made aftermarket (AM) parts since the 1980s; but exports to Europe has been increasing alongside rising acceptance in the expanding region. The European automotive sector is...

As many high-end equipment seen earlier only on luxury cars gradually become standard equipment on many makes and models, coupled with different nations' compulsory safety regulations or consumer preference, Advanced Driving Assistant System (ADAS) is becoming one of the most requested equipment among customers for their new cars all over the world, hence making ADAS one of the fastest-growing se...

With ever more electronic safety features being installed in cars to minimize accidents from human error, one of the recent developments that will change sales, production structures in the U.S. automotive sector is that 10 major vehicle manufacturers have committed to making automatic emergency braking (AEB) a standard feature on all new vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety...

Honda Taiwan Motor Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honda Motor of Japan, recently held a ceremony to celebrate selling more than 150,000 units of the Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle (SUV)in Taiwan, also announcing that it is scheduled to introduce for local assembly in 2016 another light SUV, the Honda HR-V. Honda, often associated with the affordable but reliable Civic that became popular ...

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) plans to propose a new automotive commodity-tax rebate project that is expected to help stimulate new-car sales, lower carbon emissions, boost used-car exports, and develop the local automotive industry. The tax rebate plan, according to insiders familiar with the program, is designed to subsidize owners of three ranges of used cars: four-year-old, ...

As it continues to transform its business model and has handed out the local agency right to Volkswagen (VW), Skoda and Audi in Taiwan last year (each brand has set up wholly-owned subsidiaries for direct operation), the Swire Group, one of the largest imported-car distributors on the island, has also become an automobile vendor to sell different brands of cars. Aiming to become the largest i...

Global sales of new cars in the first six months increased only 0.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 43.7 million units, according to statistics compiled by Wards Auto, a dedicated automotive website. Though the overall volume is quite similar to last year's, detailed analysis shows ups and downs across different markets, including obvious growth in Europe, mild increase in North America, and sli...

Tsai Wen-rong, chairman of the Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (TTVMA), recently spoke out to take a firm stand for the trade group's membership or the local automobile assemblers and their domestic supply chains, who are beset by unprecedented challenges that were unimaginable a decade ago. Years ago imported cars in Taiwan were typically seen as niche, higher-priced,...