China's Dongfeng Wastes No Time; Construction Begins on New EV Plant
By John O'Dell August 20, 2010Less than a week after announcing a five-year, $443 million program to develop and build new hybrid and battery-electric vehicles for the Chinese market, Dongfeng Motor Corp. has broken ground on a new EV plant that it says will be capable of annual production of 2,000 complete vehicles and 5,000 chassis.
The company, China's third largest motor vehicle producer, said earlier this week that it wants to produce and sell 100,000 hybrids and 50,000 battery-electric vehicles by 2015.
The new $96 million EV plant, to be located in central China, is to be dedicated to commercial vehicles, including buses and pickups, according to a report from IHS Global Insight, citing a Chinese business news report from SinoCast.
Dongfeng's EV effort is part of its overall strategy to become a leader in the sprawling country's fuel-efficient vehicles segment, and also is part of a broader national program, fostered by China's central government, to make the country the world's leader in development and production of electric-dive vehicles.
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The speed China does things at is staggering. DB's estimate that China will be by far the leader in EV's by 2020 sounds more realistic by the day, and McKinseys claim that the US will be more far fetched.
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