IPhone-Maker Foxconn Wants To Make Teslas, Too - The Drive

One of the world’s biggest tech hardware makers said it’s not satisfied making astir 1 retired of each 2 smartphones successful the world. It’s present looking astatine making cars, too. 

Executives from Taiwanese elephantine Foxconn told investors Tuesday that it’s aiming to marque electrical cars astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic their phones.

“I anticipation 1 time we tin bash Tesla cars for Tesla,” Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-way said, according to Reuters.

The Foxconn main added the institution isn't funny successful selling EVs nether its ain moniker, but alternatively arsenic a contractor for different automakers. It has manufacturing facilities successful Taiwan and Thailand already, and it purchased the Lordstown, Ohio, car plant in May aft that mill was shuttered archetypal by General Motors and past floated by Lordstown Motors. 

Foxconn is the contracted builder for the Lordstown Endurance pickup and the institution announced this twelvemonth it would beryllium the contracted builder for the Fisker PEAR EV successful Ohio. The institution besides has a woody with Indian shaper Vendanta to physique EVs arsenic well. 

Liu said the institution would use its organization cognition of manufacturing semiconductors and smartphones to EV building, aiming to velocity up production, design, and probe for EVs. 

Foxconn has already rolled retired respective prototypes of imaginable vehicles that it could physique for others, including a pickup truck. Last year, the institution showed disconnected a sedan, crossover, and metropolis bus, and this twelvemonth it unveiled a tiny crossover and Model V electrical pickup. 

“Our heartfelt anticipation is that Taiwan tin prehend this once-in-a-hundred years, uncommon EV concern opportunity,” Liu said, according to Reuters. 

Contract manufacturing isn’t caller to the car business, nor particularly rare. Canadian institution Manga International builds vehicles for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, and Toyota. Finnish institution Valmet Automotive declaration builds for Mercedes-Benz and has assembled vehicles for Porsche and Fisker. 

Of course, neither jumped into the automotive assemblage from the tech space. Foxconn’s already-deep pockets and established manufacturing facilities crossed the globe marque them an perfect spouse for galore startup automakers including Fisker and, possibly 1 day, Apple. 

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