Dongfeng Yulon to push first sedan model in China in mid-2012

China Economic News Service (Taipei) - Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Taiwan`s Yulon Group and Chinese major automaker Dongfeng Group to locally produce LUXGEN own-brand passenger cars, recently announced its plan to achieve an annual sales goal of 200,000 units, or revenue of 25 billion renminbi (RMB, or Chinese yuan) in five years.

Dongfeng Yulon chairman Zhou Wenjie said at the ongoing 14th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Auto Shanghai 2011, from April 19-28) that his company plans to push one to two new-car models per year, including the LUXGEN Neora, the company`s first sedan product scheduled for mid-2012.

Wu Hsin-fa, Dongfeng Yulon`s president, said that his company is scheduled to participate in some electric vehicle (EV) demonstration operation projects in China from May this year. Dongfeng Yulon would provide three EV models for the projects, and is scheduled to begin production of LUXGEN EVs in China in mid-2012.

At Auto Shanghai 2011, Dongfeng Yulon for the first time demonstrated its LUXGEN brand car models, including a sport utility vehicle (SUV) and the Neora EV concept. The company also transplanted the interactive car-demonstration mode adopted in Taiwan to the new and targeted market.

Yulon is a major automobile manufacturing conglomerate in Taiwan, while Dongfeng is the third-largest automaker in China. Dongfeng Yulon plans to kick off mass production of its first product in China in the second quarter, the LUXGEN7 multi-purpose van (MPV), which is the best-selling model of its kind in Taiwan.

According to Wu, Dongfeng Yulon will kick off trial sales of the LUXGEN7 SUV in China in June and formal sales of the model in August. He predicted that some 15,000 units would be sold in this year.

Zhou claimed that Dongfeng Yulon aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 200,000 units in five years. Currently, the company`s first-stage capacity at a factory in Xiaoshan of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province is about 120,000 units, and Wu said that it is scheduled to begin planning for second-stage capacity expansion in 2012.