Mexican Media Brands
China EV Startup Aims for $1 Billion in Funding
One of China’s newest electric-vehicle startups, WM Motor Technology Co., expects to raise $1 billion in its first round of fundraising.
#hybrid
Share
One of China’s newest electric-vehicle startups, WM Motor Technology Co., expects to raise $1 billion in its first round of fundraising.
Freeman Chen, who founded WM Motor last year, tells Bloomberg News the company’s management team represents “profound experience” in the industry, unlike those at other EV startups.
Chen is a former executive with Volvo Cars owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. A 22-year veteran of the auto industry, his career also included stints at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and supplier BorgWarner. He boasts that his team includes experts in everything from product development and supply chain management to production and sales.
WM Motor will target China’s mass market. “We don’t want to make toy-like luxury cars for the minority,” Chen declares. He says the company’s first EV will debut in 2018 and aims for annual sales of more than 100,000 units by 2021.
The would-be EV maker is developing two platforms and is already conducting road tests, according to Chen. He says the company will apply for a production license later this year and intends to erect a factory somewhere in eastern China.
RELATED CONTENT
-
What the VW ID. BUGGY Indicates
Volkswagen will be presenting a concept, the ID. BUGGY, a contemporary take on a dune buggy, based on the MEB electric platform that the company will be using for a wide array of production vehicles, at the International Geneva Motor Show.
-
On Ford Maverick, Toyota Tundra Hybrid, and GM's Factory Footprint
GM is transforming its approach to the auto market—and its factories. Ford builds a small truck for the urban market. Toyota builds a full-size pickup and uses a hybrid instead of a diesel. And Faurecia thinks that hydrogen is where the industry is going.
-
Chevy Develops eCOPO Camaro: The Fast and the Electric
The notion that electric vehicles were the sort of thing that well-meaning professors who wear tweed jackets with elbow patches drove in order to help save the environment was pretty much annihilated when Tesla added the Ludicrous+ mode to the Model S which propelled the vehicle from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds.