BAIC BJEV to launch autonomous vehicles in 2018

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On January 9, some BAIC BJEV's senior executives revealed in a interview that it plans to launch autonomous vehicles at the end of 2018 and also talked about its strategy for future development.

Zheng Gang, general-manager of BAIC BJEV revealed that BAIC BJEV is going to test its autonomous vehicles in Beijing’s demonstration zone in the next few months and plans to release electric vehicles with L2 and L2.5 autonomous function in near future. Its production vehicles will be launched at the end of 2018 and probably be sold in market in 2019. Besides, BAIC BJEV has signed an agreement with Baidu for a comprehensive strategic synergy in autonomous vehicle field.

With regard to the rumor of personnel change, Zheng Gang showed that BAIC BJEV faces lots of challenges in 2018, such as subsidies to be phased out, intense market competition and company listing issues, etc. Under such pressure, BAIC BJEV will not change horses in midstream. “I myself will work for this cause until I retire." said Zheng Gang.

The phasing-out new energy vehicle subsidies and the imminent implementation of the dual-credit policy will all affect the whole industry. Meanwhile, China’s new energy vehicle startups are accelerating in production, trying to outstripping each other. However, Zheng Gang stated that BAIC BJEV's parent company, BAIC Group, is a state-owned enterprise that can provide many advantages for BAIC BJEV's development.

Li Yixiu, general-manager of BAIC BJEV’s sales company also showed confidence in the company's development in 2018 based on its "2018 Strategy". To be specific,“2” stands for two markets, private consumers’ market and public service market. “0” means it will do business as hard as a startup other than indulging in past achievements. “1” presents the ambition that BAIC BJEV strives to be the best seller in China’s new energy vehicle market and “8” emblems the eight projects that the automaker will implement in 2018, such as sales channels' expansion, brand promotion and resource integration, etc.