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Smartphone supplier giant Foxconn presents three electric car prototypes

2021-10-18T17:22:14.960Z


Electronics giant Foxconn is known as a supplier to the smartphone industry - now it builds cars: In Taiwan, the company has presented a luxury sedan, an SUV and a bus.


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Young Liu, the boss of Foxconn, presents three prototypes for electric cars

Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo / EPA

Electronics company Foxconn demonstrated three prototype electric cars at the company's headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan - a year after the company announced plans for battery-powered vehicles.

A limousine, an SUV and a bus were shown.

Foxconn founder Terry Gou drove up himself with the first prototype, the sedan "Model E".

The off-road vehicle "Model C" is scheduled to hit the market in Taiwan at the beginning of 2023 and cost the equivalent of around 30,000 euros.

The third car is a bus: the "Model T".

It could be used in the city of Kaohsiung in the south of the country as early as the beginning of 2022, said Taiwan's deputy head of government, Shen Jong Chin.

According to its own statements, Foxconn has invested around ten billion Taiwan dollars (a good 300 million euros) in the development of electric cars in 2020 alone.

Investments would increase even further in the next two years.

Group President Young Liu said at the presentation that Foxconn had gradually built a supply chain and a sales network.

Foxconn is one of the largest manufacturing companies for electronic products worldwide - among other things as the largest supplier for smartphone manufacturers such as Apple.

Foxconn founded a joint venture with the Taiwanese manufacturer Yulon Motor to produce electric cars and recently bought a car plant in the US state of Ohio from the US start-up Lordstown Motors for the equivalent of around 199 million euros.

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One of the youngest partners is the US electric car manufacturer Fisker.

Foxconn and Fisker had announced that they would jointly develop cars, with production scheduled to begin in late 2023.

A company that is best known for manufacturing smartphones and laptops could also play a role in the automotive industry, said Foxconn chairman Young Liu.

"Our biggest challenge is that we do not know how to make cars," he said, as the "New York Times" reported.

However, the traditional automobile manufacturers are facing an even greater challenge: they lack specialist knowledge of software and computer chips.

Therefore, Foxconn's background in consumer electronics could also be an advantage, said Liu.

vki / AFP

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-10-18

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