At present Taiwan possessed about 25 percent of the global market for high-end bikes, selling 2.5 million of the 5.3 million total units exported worldwide, said Tseng Farn-hann, a senior official of the MOEA's Industrial Development Bureau (IDB).
"By 2012, we plan to capture 60 percent of the market by boosting all of our bike makers into high-end ones," Tseng noted.
At the beginning the 21th century, Taiwan's bicycle manufacturers have either moved operations to China or shut down due to competition from the mainland in the low-end bicycle market.
To survive, Taiwanese bike manufacturers have steadily switched to making upscale bikes, which cost around US$250 or more.
This has helped upgrade Taiwan's once-ailing bicycle industry.
The industry has also launched A-Team, a non-profit organization made up of 11 local bike makers, to incorporate advanced car making technology into the manufacturing process.
The achievement of such industry innovations became apparent as Taiwan's bike industry exports reached over US$1.05 billion in value in 2007, a huge jump from the US$580 million in 2003. The exports came from the 11 A-Team members.
With innovation and technology, the prices of Taiwanese bikes exported also rose in price from US$100 per unit in 2002 to US$222 per export unit.
