Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd, also known as Apple iPhone subcontractor Foxconn, held a press conference in Japan’s capital city Tokyo this week to promote its fledgling business as a battery electric vehicle (BEV) contract manufacturer and BEV technology licensing company. The open day event was hosted by the company’s chief strategy officer for BEVs, Juni Seki, formerly a Nissan Motor executive.

Hon Hai is courting potential partners in Japan for its BEV contract assembly services, as it looks to build on its largely Taiwanese automotive customer base which currently includes local carmaker Luxgen Motor Company and a small number of customers in the country’s commercial vehicle segment.

Hon Hai, through its Foxtron Technologies Company BEV unit, has developed an in-house BEV platform, the MIH (Mobility in Harmony), designed to provide automakers with a fast, low-cost expansion strategy in the BEV segment - backed by a ready-made supply chain.

Last month Hon Hai announced it has agreed to produce a BEV model for Mitsubishi Motors in Taiwan from next year, for sale locally and for export to other markets in the Asia-Pacific region. This was seen as a major breakthrough for the company, while reports in Japan also claim Hon Hai aims to “introduce multiple BEVs for the Japanese market by 2027.”

Juni Seki confirmed that “within one year you can expect several Japanese partners. Some discussions are taking place, and building new factories in Japan is also an option.”

With Japanese automakers seen as having fallen behind in the transition to zero-emission products, Hon Hai sees opportunities to help some of the small and medium-sized automakers speed up their BEV development – including Nissan, following the collapse of its merger talks with Honda.