Taiwan’s Yulon Motor will sell electric cars to China’s Geely Automobile Holdings, senior executives at both companies have said.
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The electric cars will be based on Geely’s small Panda petrol-powered car. Yulon Motor will be responsible for research and development and converting the Panda into an electric car powered by lithium-ion batteries, company president Chen Kuo-Rong told Dow Jones Newswires.
“They (Geely) also want to develop an electric vehicle but their technology isn’t mature yet,” said Chen.
The electric cars will be sold both in Taiwan and China under Yulon Motor’s Tobe brand and shipments to China likely willl start in 2011, he added.
Lau Jinliang, vice president of Geely parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, confirmed the two companies were cooperating on electric cars.
“Parallel to this (cooperation), we will continue developing our own electric vehicles,” Lau told Dow Jones Newswires.
In addition to shipping electric cars to China, Yulon Motor will also import semi-knocked down (SKD) kits of Geely’s Panda for assembly and sale in Taiwan under the Tobe brand. Yulon will start selling petrol versions of the Panda in January, targeting annual sales of 5,000 units in 2010, Chen saod.
Yulon Motor is also awaiting approval from the Chinese government to set up a bus-making joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group, he added.
Yulon Motor will hold 50% of the planned CNY4.65bn bus-making venture, and the paid-in capital will be CNY1.55bn.
Yulon Group also manufactures Nissan Motor cars for sale in Taiwan while its 50%-owned unit, Yulon Nissan Motor, sells cars in China through a joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Automobile.
Yulon group member China Motor makes passenger and commercial vehicles in Taiwan and light commercials in China through a joint venture with Mitsubishi Motors.
