In the latest sign of the increasing influence of the Chinese automotive and transportation business, Ford Motor is seen weighing the terms of collaboration with Anhui Zotye to build, market, and distribute all-electric cars in China.
According to a company statement, Ford and China’s automotive electronics industry giant Anhui Zotey will invest USD 756 million and hold equal to 50% stake in the joint venture to mass produce electric passenger vehicles. Reportedly, the new venture will be based in the Zhejiang province and will offer range of reasonable and stylish all-electric vehicles for consumers in China under a new indigenous brand, Caixin.
For the record, China, which has been vocal about the alarming pollution levels in major cities, is currently touted as the world’s fastest growing market for electric cars. The country has been struggling to reduce air pollution and is thus seen betting big on research funding, subsidies and electric cars projects. This has overtly drawn the attention of several automakers like Ford to launch electric car projects, which as per industry analysts may have a trivial impact on the regional automotive electronics market.
Authentic reports claim that the sale of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles in China rose by 50% in 2016 over its previous year to 336,000 vehicles. The country accounts for 40% of the global EV demand, which is expected to proliferate the demand for auto electronics, in turn stimulating the regional automotive electronics industry.
Through this new joint venture, Ford commits to actively support the emergence of a more environmentally sustainable automotive industry in China, cite sources. Industry experts further predict that Ford’s technological capabilities and Zotye’s EV design expertise will help meet environmental concerns of China automotive and transportation industry.
Reportedly, Zotye Auto is a leading player in China automotive electronics market, and has sold more than 16,000 electric vehicles as per the recent statistics for July 2017. The figure shows elevated sales in electric vehicles which represented a growth of 56% compared to the same time frame last year.