Younger Liu, chairman of Foxconn Know-how Group, speaks in entrance of a Mannequin C electrical automobile throughout an occasion in Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Liu mentioned he hopes sooner or later that Foxconn could make vehicles for Tesla.
I-Hwa Cheng | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
Foxconn, the largest assembler of Apple’s iPhones, desires to sooner or later construct vehicles for Tesla, the corporate’s CEO mentioned, because it pushes additional into electrical automobile manufacturing.
Hon Hai Know-how Group, Foxconn’s official identify, launched two electrical automobile prototypes on Tuesday — the Mannequin V pickup truck and Mannequin B sports activities crossover hatchback.
However Foxconn does not wish to promote its own-brand vehicles. As a substitute it desires to design and manufacture autos for different automakers. The corporate claims that it could actually reduce the design time of a automobile in half and scale back the event value by a 3rd for an automaker wanting to make use of its companies.
The Taiwanese agency has large ambitions. Younger Liu, CEO and chairman of Foxconn, mentioned on Tuesday that the corporate is concentrating on 5% market share globally of electrical automobile manufacturing by 2025, including that he hopes Tesla will probably be a buyer.
“I hope sooner or later we will do Tesla vehicles for Tesla,” Liu mentioned.
Tesla at present manufactures its personal vehicles at its factories world wide — in its U.S. places and in Berlin and Shanghai.
Elon Musk’s Tesla was not instantly out there for remark when contacted by CNBC.
Over the previous two years, Foxconn has been ramping up its electrical automobile enterprise.
Final yr, the corporate unveiled three prototype vehicles. Two of these are at present on the roads. The Mannequin T electrical bus is a part of the general public transportation system in Taiwan and the Mannequin C is a manufacturing automobile branded because the Luxgen n7 by Taiwanese automaker Yulon Motor.
Liu mentioned he desires Foxconn’s prospects to promote “quite a lot of EVs.”
Foxconn has constructed its enterprise over the previous few a long time in client electronics manufacturing and meeting. However the firm is now attempting to diversify into new areas, with electrical vehicles a key focus.
The 5 idea vehicles present that Foxconn “can design and construct EVs which might be handsome and might stand as much as security,” Liu mentioned.
A part of its present technique is to indicate off its capabilities within the electrical automobile house at a time when many corporations, specifically companies that haven’t historically been within the auto house, are leaping into the market.
In China for instance, smartphone maker Xiaomi and web agency Baidu, have launched electrical automobile corporations with an intention to mass produce autos.
Foxconn could possibly be an possibility for corporations seeking to launch electrical automobile ventures with out the necessity to sink big investments into personal design and manufacturing ventures.