Foxconn company seeking to construct a standardized electric vehicle platform is eyeing India or Thailand for the manufacturing of a compact battery-powered automobile under development, the unit’s chief executive said.
According to MIH CEO Jack Cheng in an interview with Reuters, the Taiwanese company’s EV platform subsidiary Mobility in Harmony (MIH) would be prepared to collaborate with its parent or another business to produce the new three-seat EV priced around USD 20,000 and specifically designed for a corporate delivery fleet.
Prior to revealing its first prototype EV at Japan’s major auto trade exhibition in October, MIH has been in discussions with convenience stores, automobile rental agencies, and courier services, Cheng stated.
Although he declined to identify the businesses in negotiations with MIH, he did say that the automobile will cost between USD 10,000 and 20,000. He said that Thailand and India are plausible candidates for production locations and predicted that India will be essential to MIH’s long-term growth.
“You construct where the market is likely to be…You have a significant volume opportunity right now, Cheng added, calling India a potential “emerging power for the next generation” in the EV industry.
The possible buyers of MIH’s new car or its production plan were not previously disclosed.
Since 2021, Foxconn has collaborated with Thailand’s state energy business PTT on a joint venture focused on electric vehicles (EVs), a priority for the government of the Southeast Asian nation.
For its part, Foxconn has thus far been unable to get a deal that would demonstrate that the EV industry can be opened up to the kind of contract manufacturing that Foxconn eventually came to dominate in consumer electronics for Apple’s iPhone.
The MIH consortium, made up of over 2,600 vendors, was founded by Foxconn two years ago with the intention of developing an open platform that may eventually replace Google’s Android operating system for electric vehicles.
Cheng acknowledged that MIH had “not seen success yet,” but he said that orders for a line of brand-new EVs known as Project X will bring about rewards for participating suppliers. The plan is to use inexpensive, shared platforms to let business fleet operators buy specially manufactured EVs.
That model has not been extensively tested up to this point, and according to experts, the best chance for a new EV entrant like Foxconn may pass in the coming years as incumbent automakers and startups build up their own manufacturing.
After the prototype is revealed in October, MIH intends to begin production of the three-seat electric vehicle, according to Cheng. Following in 2024 and 2025, respectively, are EVs with six and nine seats.
