Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings TCEHY recently signed an agreement with Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology — a major Apple AAPL supplier — to develop smart electric cars.
Zhengzhou-based China Harmony Auto will also join forces with Tencent and Foxconn. Notably, Foxconn invested HK$600 million in China Harmony in December last year.
The collaboration will bring together Tencent’s Internet platform, Foxconn’s manufacturing competence and China Harmony’s dealership network.
None of the companies provided any further details.
The BAT in Internet-Connected Car Business
Chinese Internet giants Baidu BIDU, Alibaba Group Holding BABA and Tencent are collectively known as the BAT group.
Tencent's Ma Huateng is the latest Chinese technology billionaire to venture into the promising market for Internet-Connected cars.
Earlier this month, Jack Ma’s Alibaba, along with state-controlled SAIC Motor Corp, announced $160 million investment in this space. The companies expect to launch the first product as early as next year.
On the other hand, Baidu hopes to introduce an autonomous car this year in collaboration with its artificial intelligence-focused Deep Learning Institute. It expects to commercialize the car over the next five years.
Looking Ahead
The Chinese government’s decision to provide incentives, like tax cuts and research investment, have significantly boosted growth in the Chinese electric car industry.
According to Levi Tillemann’s book The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future, during the last four months of 2014, China’s electric vehicle sale has witnessed unprecedented growth.
According to the China Automotive Technology Research Center and the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, electric car sales in China surpassed in the same in the U.S. for the first time in December last year. Also, 27,000 passenger and commercial electric vehicles were sold in China in the same month.
These three Chinese Internet giants expect this growth to continue in the future, but it is yet to be seen which one becomes the market leader.
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