FAW, AVIC likely to cooperate on new energy vehicles

Shanghai, July 27 (Gasgoo.com) A senior delegation from Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) paid a visit to FAW Group Corp on July 25, seeking to establish a partnership with the country's auto giant on new energy vehicles, local media reported.

FAW Group currently has 17 functional departments, 25 wholly owned subsidiaries and controlling interest in 16 partially owned subsidiaries, among which there are four listed companies. The Group's total assets are now valued at 105.3 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) and it has 1,230,000 employees.

FAW has expanded its product line into six different categories of vehicles including light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks, cars, buses, and mini-vehicles under its self-developed brands such as Jiefang, Hongqi, Besturn, Xiali and the brands jointly created with its foreigner partners like Volkswagen, Audi, Toyota, Mazda, etc.. The Group has also designed five platforms and nine major models for the development of new energy vehicles, FAW's general manager Xu Jianyi said during the talks.

Meanwhile, AVIC, which already has two world-class lithium-battery production bases that can produce batteries with high capacity, long life cycle, high energy, low self-discharge rate and other great performance, is also ready to tap the new energy vehicle market, AVIC's general manager Lin Zuoming said during the visit.

The cooperation between FAW and AVIC will be a great success if both sides can take advantage of each other's strong points in the industry, and AVIC is willing to develop new energy vehicles with FAW, Lin added.

Moreover, FAW and AVIC reached some cooperation agreements on mini-cars, car parts supply, etc. on the day, local media reported.