Taiwan's Foxconn unveils more electric vehicle prototypes / Photo: Sam Yeh - AFP
-
TotalEnergies profit hits record on high oil prices
-
Taiwan says Pakistan briefly closed airspace to Taiwanese flights
-
Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation surges despite Taliban govt ban: UN
-
Samsung logs record quarterly profits despite investor AI jitters
-
Microsoft beats expectations fueled by Azure cloud business
-
Shares in Google owner Alphabet plummet on profit miss, ad slowdown
-
Shares in Google owner Alphabet sink on profit miss, ad slowdown
-
US Fed holds interest rates steady despite 'too high' inflation
-
Pioneering US labor leader Dolores Huerta dies at 96
-
Airbus aims for record deliveries despite disappointing quarter
-
US Fed holds interest rates steady despite surging inflation
-
Real Madrid, La Liga apology over Mbappe shows power of Chinese market
-
US labor leader Dolores Huerta dead: family
-
'Cruise for life' strands passengers in Cambodia as operator goes bust
-
French firm Safran helps build aircraft wings of the future in UK factory
-
Canada hikes rates to contain oil price surge caused by Iran war
-
World Bank warns of worsening food insecurity as commodity prices soar
-
Nintendo producer 'all nervous' as Zelda classic remake hits shelves
-
Billionaire Ambani's Jio soars in market debut after India's biggest IPO
Taiwan's Foxconn unveils more electric vehicle prototypes
Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn unveiled two more electric vehicle prototypes on Tuesday, including a pickup truck, as it said commercial production on two other designs would start later this year.
The world's largest contract electronics maker, Foxconn already plays a lynchpin role in assembling gadgets for a host of top international brands including Apple's iPhones.
The company has moved to diversify beyond electronics assembly and embraced the competitive but rapidly expanding EV business, unveiling three concept cars last year.
Foxconn chairman Young Liu showed off two more prototypes at Tuesday's media event in Taipei -- a sporty hatchback dubbed the Model B and a pickup, the Model V.
He also announced that commercial production would start by the end of the year on the group's previously unveiled electric bus and a family sports utility vehicle.
"Foxconn has cut in half the design time and reduced development cost by a third in taking an EV from concept to production-ready," Liu said.
Foxconn plans to do with electric vehicles what it did for gadgets -- become a go-to contract builder.
Its strategy is to construct vehicles for clients rather than sell them under its own name, using the prototypes as a guide.
Liu said one of its clients, Taiwanese automaker Luxgen, had received 15,000 customer pre-orders in under two days for its N7 car, which is based on the Foxconn Model C unveiled last year.
Foxconn has also started building electric vehicles for Lordstown Motors after completing its purchase of a former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio in May.
This month, it signed a memorandum of understanding with US-based INDIEV Inc to build the first INDI One prototype EV at its Ohio facility.
Its partners also include Fisker, one of a host of US-based electronic car startups hoping to someday challenge Tesla's supremacy.
Fisker has recently reaffirmed plans to have Foxconn build its upcoming Fisker Pear model at the Ohio factory starting in 2024.
It has been widely reported for years that Apple has a secret electronic car project, something Foxconn could be in an ideal place to partner on given its existing relationship with the California-based giant.
M.P.Jacobs--CPN