FAW Xiali to introduce Vios-based electric car

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 17) - Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile, a subsidiary of FAW Group Corporation specializing in compact vehicles, announced that it will invest 350 million yuan ($53.2m) to promote development of a small and affordable pure electric car, bitauto.com reported today. The proposed car will reportedly be built on the Toyota Vios platform (pictured above).

According to the manufacturer's publicly released strategy, Xiali will begin building the factory that will produce the new car this March. The factory will also be responsible for the production of key vehicle parts, including battery systems and engines. However, Xiali has yet to announce which battery supplier it will cooperate with. The factory is predicted to be completed by March 2012, with production beginning soon after.

Research and development of new energy vehicles, such as the proposed Xiali pure electric sedan, is expected to be a major new direction for FAW Group in the upcoming five years, with the company also planning to focus resources on production of hybrid buses, as well as mid-level and high-end sedans.

In other news, FAW's B50 pure electric sedan (pictured below) is about to begin production. It is expected to enter full production sometime this year.