Prospects for Taiwan’s domestically assembled cars – most of which are Japanese brands marketed under license – are less sanguine. To begin with, they are at a disadvantage because of a relatively low imported-car tariff of 17.5% established after Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002. Since high duties on imported auto parts remain in place, some locally assembled models using those parts retail for nearly the same price as imports in the same category.