By Matt Posky on April 27, 2021
Lotus Cars has announced that the Emira sports car will be its next and final internal combustion model as it prepares itself to become an exclusively electric brand. The historically British manufacturer says its Chinese owners, the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, are preparing a cash injection of $2.8 billion to swap to EVs and expand its footprint.
While the present market makes those items feel as though they could conflict with each other, Lotus thinks that the climate will be different a few years from now and plans on going EV only by 2028. In the meantime, the Emira is scheduled to launch in July. (Read More…)
26 April 2021 10:09 am / 0 comments
According to a report by
Reuters, Jidu Auto will invest 50 billion yuan (around RM31.6 billion) into producing smart cars over the next five years. The company is a joint venture between Baidu (55%) and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (45%), with the partnership first being announced back in January this year.
Jidu CEO Xia Yiping told the publication that the funding would come from Baidu and other investors, with the company aiming to launch its first EV in three years or sooner. He said the EV would target young customers and “look like a robot,” although the company would need to analyse market data before deciding on a final model.
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The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group – perhaps better known simply as Geely – has unveiled a new marque at the
Shanghai motor show, positioned to take on a raft of established performance divisions with a range of EVs.
Called Zeekr, the new brand joins Geely’s portfolio of brands which already includes Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Proton and lesser known brands like Lynk & Co, Geometry, and LEVC – the maker of London cabs.
At a glance the
Zeekr 001 borrows heavily from Lynk & Co’s existing design language. Without any significant attempt to differentiate the new brand, or its first model, the 001 is an almost exact replica of Lynk & Co’s 2020 Zero concept.
Jidu Auto (集度汽車), a joint venture of Chinese technology giants Baidu Inc (百度) and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (吉利控股), aims to spend 50 billion yuan (US$7.7 billion) over the next five years on developing smart-vehicle technologies.
Over the next two to three years, the joint venture aims to hire 2,500 to 3,000 staff for the project, including about 500 software engineers, it said.
The branding for the nascent auto marque is set to be unveiled in the third quarter of this year, a Jidu spokesperson added.
Baidu owns 55 percent of Jidu and Geely has a 45 percent stake in the
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