Hotai Motor, Taiwan'ttts general agent of locally assembled and imported Toyota and Lexus cars, was the most profitable auto dealer in Taiwan in 2009.

The company sold more than 114,000 Toyota and Lexus (only imported) cars last year, generating revenues of NT$ 72.48 billion (US$ 2.23 billion), up 36.67% year-on-year, or YoY, pretax earnings of NT$ 4.21 billion (US$ 129.6 million), and pretax earnings per share (EPS) of NT$ 7.71 (US$ 0.24). The figures are much better than other counterparts on the island.

Hotai`s board recently resolved to accelerate its business deployment in China, which replaced the United States as the world`s largest automobile market in 2009 with more than 13 million new cars sold. The Taiwanese company originally planned to set up 15 sales points in China by 2015, but the scheduled period will be shortened based on a board decision.

The auto dealer has poured US$ 6.5 million to set up a subsidiary in Shanghai of China for developing sales networks of automobiles and industrial machinery as well as car-leasing points in the booming market. In addition, Hotai also invested US$ 6.3 million in setting up a sales point for Lexus luxury cars in Tianjin. By the end of 2010, the number of Hotai`s sales points in China will increase to 10.

Hotai said that Toyota car models assembled in Taiwan adopt accelerator pedal and mechanism different from same models sold in the U.S., so they do not have to be recalled.

The company`s board also set ambitious operation goals for 2010, including a 40% market share in Taiwan and annual sales volume of 6,300 units of Lexus cars. Some institutional investors estimated that Hotai would have annual revenues of NT$ 66 billion to NT$ 67 billion (US$ 2.03 billion to US$ 2.06 billion) this year, or challenge earnings of NT$ 4 billion (US$ 123.07 million).