BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Future Mobility Corp., a Chinese auto startup backed by China tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., and Foxconn Technology Group, plans to launch its first model of self driving electric cars by 2020.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing chief operating officer and co-founder Daniel Kirchert that the company plans to complete its first round of financing in the third quarter, and is in talks with investors.
Kirchert said, 'At the moment we are mainly talking to mainland-based investors as well as investors that are publicly traded in Hong Kong. But going forward we will consider investors from Europe and the U.S. given that we are running a pretty open platform.'
Future Mobility expects to produce its cars in China, either in cooperation with another automaker or by it own plant. The cars will feature highly automated driving, and the company expects to sell several hundred thousands of cars a year. They will be sold domestically as well as in the U.S. and Europe. It is expected that the first passenger vehicle model from Future Mobility will be priced about 300,000 yuan or $45,000.
Earlier this year, Carsten Breitfeld, the former project manager for BMW's i8 plug-in sports car, joined the company as chief executive officer. Future Mobility has hired about 50 engineers from BMW, Mercedes Benz, Tesla Motors Inc. and Google. The company plans to increase staff to 600 employees by the end of next year.
Dealership group China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding Ltd is also a shareholder in Future Mobility, which works in line with Chinese government's policy of more innovation within its auto industry, especially for new-energy vehicles. This policy has resulted in several electric vehicle startups getting backed by technology companies in China.
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