Daimler and Chinese joint venture partner BAIC Motor will spend CNY5bn to produce electric vehicles and batteries to meet local EV production quotas, a top executive has said.
Daimler China operations chief Hubertus Troska told Reuters on the sidelines of the Guangzhou show the spend was part of the automaker's previously announced $11.8bn global green car initiative.
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Troska said Daimler and BAIC plan to localise EV production and also will produce EV battery packs using China produced battery cells.
"If there's one country in the world (that could) grow demand for electrics, that's China because no other countries have so many big cities," Troska said.
Though the government will phase out subsidies for EV sales over the next few years, "there is a strong incentive (for Chinese consumers) to go for electrics," he added.
That was partly because of the central government's commitment to build sufficient charging infrastructure, Troska said.
Reuters noted Daimler had said earlier it and BAIC would start producing EQ brand EVs in 2019. The first model would be the EQC, a battery powered crossover.
