Ford and China’s\u00a0Zotye Automobile\u00a0in Anhui\u00a0Province signed a memorandum to build electric cars in China. The document calls for the creation of a 50\/50 joint venture to manufacture electric cars in the world’s largest emerging car market, and sell them under a Chinese brand name.<\/p>\n
The event\u00a0shows Ford’s commitment to both the\u00a0electric vehicles\u00a0and Chinese market. In a press release, the Blue Oval said it anticipates the market for \u00a0“new energy vehicles” in China will reach 6 million units annually by 2025, including 4 million all-electric cars.<\/p>\n
The Chinese government began motivating\u00a0new energy vehicles several years ago to resist\u00a0horrible\u00a0air pollution, but sales have only really picked up over the past decades. A large mount\u00a0of those sales have been plug-in hybrids that, due to China’s limited charging infrastructure, may not get plugged in very often, or small electric vehicles with limited range.<\/p>\n
Ford already had plans to expand sales of electric\u00a0cars, but the joint venture with Zotye Auto shows\u00a0a stronger commitment to those plans. In April, Ford said it that by 2025 it would supply\u00a0hybrid or all-electric versions of every model built in China. But it\u00a0also said it would take a cautious approach, due\u00a0to uncertain consumer demand and probable\u00a0changes\u00a0in government policy.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ford is going\u00a0to launch an electric SUV with a 300-mile range in America,\u00a0and a gaggle of new hybrids\u00a0too. The automaker also\u00a0has cooperation\u00a0with DHL in Germany\u00a0on electric delivery vans. It’s a major change for a company that hasn’t paid\u00a0much attention\u00a0in all-electric cars\u00a0before, until recently. Ford’s only current all-electric car\u00a0is the unloved Focus Electric, which only has a slow sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ford and China’s\u00a0Zotye Automobile\u00a0in Anhui\u00a0Provin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[175,173,171,174,176,172],"class_list":["post-2850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-auto-market-news","tag-electric-car","tag-ford","tag-joint-venture","tag-new-energy-vehicle","tag-zotye-auto","category-1","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\n