AN IPHONE maker has announced that it will switch to making cars – but would you actually buy one?
The technology company Foxconn – which produces 500,000 phones for Apple every day – hopes to capture 5% of the global electric vehicle market in the next few years.
The Taiwanese company unveiled two electric vehicle concepts at its third annual Hon Hai Tech Day as the company tries to diversify its business and take on the automotive market.
The two vehicles, a Model V electric pickup truck and a Model B electric crossover hatchback, are their first creations.
Foxconn chairman Young Liu told the BBC: "The reason why we think this is a great opportunity for us is that with the traditional gas engine, you have engines which are mostly mechanical.
"But with EVs, it's batteries and motors. That is a familiar language for a technology company like Foxconn.
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"It doesn't make sense for you to make [EVs] in one place, so regionalised production for cars is very natural."
Young Liu revealed that the cars would be manufactured in the US, Thailand, Indonesia and India.
For now, the Taiwanese company will focus on producing phones for their clients, but will soon start manufacturing electric cars, they said.
They currently own GM’s former Lordstown factory in Ohio, which has the capacity of cranking out 330,000 vehicles a year at full capacity.
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Ian Upton, director of production control at Foxconn Ohio, told Reuters recently. “We would love to find a customer that’s in the 250,000-or-so range, and then we can fill up some of the other stuff with niche-type things.
“The results of many of our collaborations will be realised one after the other in 2023.
"The demand for EVs is driving industry disruption where prominent traditional automakers have and are pivoting to finding solutions for mobility that are cleaner and smarter."
And according to Clean Technica, they have already hiredformer Nissan executive, Jun Seki, to lead its US manufacturing program.
This comes after drivers were issued an urgent warning regarding serious problems with electric cars despite their soaring popularity.
Plus, the cheapest electric cars on the market have been revealed.
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