Foxconn Eyes India For Its EV-making Plans

The fact that electric vehicles (EVs) do not have a lot in common with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles allows a lot of brands outside the automobile industry to also join the competition. As such, even electronic brands and smartphone makers like Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi are aiming to have a share of the pie. It makes more sense when you consider similar brands are already heavily involved in the vehicular systems being offered in the tech-laden cars of today.

A couple of years ago, the same company that manufactures the iPhone for US tech-giant Apple – Foxconn – had shown interest in competing in the EV industry. The smartphone maker is now exploring possibilities of manufacturing its EVs in India.

What’s The Discussion About?

Foxconn launched Mobility in Harmony (MIH) Consortium in 2021 that works on developing platforms for EVs. While talking to Reuters recently, its CEO, Jack Cheng, said, "You build where the potential market is...In India or Southeast Asia, you have a huge volume opportunity right now." He even called India a potential "emerging power for the next generation" in the EV sector.

He further added, "If this is a Foxconn plant (in India), fantastic, it's the mother company, we put it into the Foxconn plant. If this is a local India plant and it's even more competitive, give it to the India plant." He expects India to be crucial to MIH's longer-term growth.

Foxconn also has EV plans in other South-East Asian countries like Thailand, where it already has a joint venture agreement with a local company.

EV Plans Detailed

MIH would be willing to work with its parent or another company to build the new 3-seat EV that was first showcased in November 2022, called the Project X. Even with a lot of technology on offer, it has a target price below $20,000 (that’s roughly Rs 16.5 lakh). Its prototype is scheduled to be unveiled at Japan’s auto trade show in October 2023 and enter production by 2025. MIH also plans to launch 6-seater and 9-seater electric vehicles by 2024 and 2025, respectively.

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A Brief Of Foxconn’s EVs

Foxconn Group and Yulon Group joined forces to form the Foxtron brand, the former’s automotive division. In October 2022, Foxtron unveiled three new electric cars called the Model B (hatchback with 450km range), Model C (crossover SUV with nearly 700km range) and Model V (pickup; no range mentioned). Froxtron is yet to reveal the electric powertrains of the three EVs. The smartphone manufacturer aims to use its expertise in platform manufacturing by applying it to EV-making as well. Thereby, multiple models can use the same base platforms and components with their own unique shells for ease of mass manufacturing.

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