Global annual auto sales increased to 88.7 million units in 2015, up 2.0 percent from about 8.52 million in 2014; with sales performances in different regional markets being mixed, like a 6.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in North America but a slowdown in Europe, according to U-Car News, from U-Car.com.tw, a Taiwan-based, Chinese-language website offering mainly automotive-related products...

Advance Auto Parts (AAP) of the U.S., a NYSE-listed firm founded in 1929 and headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, which operates through its subsidiaries as a specialty retailer of automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items, recently decided to shutter its operational center on the U.S. west coast and move it to Taiwan. The auto-parts supplier will tie up with Taiw...

Delta Electronics Inc. of Taiwan, a major maker of power supply products that has been aggressively developing new-energy businesses, said earlier that it is scheduled to kick off mass production of lithium-ion (Li-ion) rechargeable batteries in January, 2016, a move allegedly taken in response to orders from European customers. A senior Delta manager pointed out that a sizable power company i...

Among the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE)-listed companies who have announced 2015 operational results, some auto-parts companies are expected to report record highs and express optimism towards continued growth in 2016, according to institutional investors. Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co., Ltd., an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of transmission system parts to international automakers a...

One consumer trend in Taiwan clearly simmered amid the generally chilly economy on the island in 2015: the brow-raising sales of high-end imported cars. One of the many examples being the sales of Porsche sports cars in Taiwan that again hit a new record high of 3,355 units in 2015, which helped to push Porsche's Asia Pacific sales total to a new record high of 5,583 units, a 15 percent annual in...

The Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC), recognized as a key transportation vehicle testing and R&D hub in Taiwan focusing on upgrading the island's automotive techniques, technologies to transfer such R&D achievements to private enterprises, has been granted the ISO 26262 certification, the highest international automotive function safety standard, from SGS. Such certification qualifi...

Two Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE)-listed auto-parts makers, Tong Yang Industrial Co., Ltd. and Iron Force Industrial Co., Ltd., posted record revenues for 2015, driven mainly by encouraging new-car sales in the U.S. last year. Tong Yang is widely reported as the world's largest maker of aftermarket (AM) plastic car-body parts, a major original equipment (OE) parts supplier to international auto...

A total of 41,821 new cars were sold in Taiwan in December, 2015, up a miniscule 0.1 percent year-on-year (YoY), but a clear 20 percent increase from the previous month, or month-on-month (MoM), which could be attributable to consumers sprucing up presentation ahead of the Chinese New Year or spending of year-end bonuses, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Comm...

HTC Corp. of Taiwan, generally recognized as a global vendor of its eponymous line of smartphones, and German automaker Volkswagen (VW) recently announced their partnership to upgrade driving safety and fuel efficiency with the demonstration of the Volkswagen Customer-Link solution. By teaming up with the German automaker, HTC developed the Customer-Link, a brand-new automotive solution combin...

Skoda Taiwan, the wholly-owned local subsidiary of Volkswagen Germany, recently said that its annual sales in Taiwan is expected to outstrip 3,000 units in 2015, a 30-plus percent growth from the previous year in its first year of direct operation under the German headquarters. Next year, the subsidiary aims to challenge a new milestone of 4,000 units. The wholly-owned Skoda Taiwan was establi...