TAIPEI - - On Monday, Foxconn unveiled three electric car prototypes as the iPhone assembler attempts to turn its nascent auto segment into a $1 trillion New Taiwan dollarTaiwan dollar business in just five years.
The Taiwanese company drew two electric passenger EV models and an electric bus prototype at its annual Foxconn Technology Day event in Taipei.
We have done almost one collaboration project for the past year to ensure our supply chain capability and potential markets for EVs Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said at the event We are no longer the new kid in town. Nikkei Asia told Liu that Foxconn's target is to earn NT $1 trillion worth of EV-related revenue a year by 2026. It's a goal we must achieve, Liu said.
Foxconn's first revenue per year for 2020 was NT $5.35 trillion and it estimates its EV business would contribute more than NT 10 billion this year for the first time.
Liu said regional manufacturing will be a major trend for the EV industry as manufacturing cars close to the markets where they are sold will help manufacturers keep costs down, producing goods and services, says director of sales. He added that Foxconn will soon reveal the details of its EV production plans for Europe.
Terry Gou, founder and former Chairman at the event driving one of the EV prototypes, said it had taken less than a year for Foxconn to get able to present its own EVs to the public.
It is by far the best birthday present I've ever had in the past 71 years, Gou said. The annual event starts on Oct. 18, the day he was born and is held at 10: 18 a.m. (APL) by the founder.
The three EV prototypes are made by Foxtron, a joint venture between Foxconn and Yulon Motor, a Taiwanese carmaker which produced Nissan and Mitsubishi cars for the local market, founded nearly 70 years ago. It also has a brand name Luxgen.
Foxconn's Model C, Model E and Model T - an SUV, luxury passenger car and bus are designed for mass production and serve as reference designs that EV brands can customise to their own specifications. Lilian Chen chairperson said her company will be one of the earliest to adopt the designs.
The new model will enter the market in 2023, with the luxury model E following later, Foxconn's representatives said. The Model T, which targets the mass transportation segment, will hit the road in southern Taiwan as early as next year.
The three EV prototypes are based on the designs of the MIH Consortium, an open software and hardware platform led by Foxconn. The aim of MIH is to reshape the traditional automotive supply chain by developing industry standards and setting kits combining hardware and software that EV makers can use to design less costly vehicles.
Liu said that thanks to collaboration among MIH members, the retail price for the Model C is estimated to be above 1 million New Taiwan dollarTaiwan dollar $35,700 - a relatively affordable level for an electric vehicle.
The longtime iPhone assembler is stepping up efforts to expand its presence in the booming EV industry since Gou acquired Liu by founder Gou in mid 2019. Liu is vowing to have Foxconn's designs, components, and parts in 5% of the global EV markets by 2025.
Foxconn again showed on Monday its progress in the manufacturing, sensor and electrical supply chain with a focus on the three most important areas: batteries, motors and electric systems.
Earlier this month, the company struck multiple deals worth $280 million with U.S. EV startup Lordstown Motors to acquire its manufacturing plant in Ohio and help it make its Endurance full-size pickup truck from April next year. It also secured orders from another American EV startup, Fisker, to make EVs in the Ohio complex by late 2023.
Foxconn also plans to build an EV manufacturing facility in Thailand by 2023 to serve Asian markets as part of its collaboration with Thai oil and gas company PTT.
In order to gain more control over the supply and development of SiC chips, or silicon carbide chips, Foxconn announced it had purchased a semiconductor facility in Taiwan. SiC chips have the high voltage resistance and heat dissipating qualities needed for EVs.
Foxconn's Shanghai-listed subsidiary Hengdrive recently spent 378 million yuan to buy a 63% stake in Foxconn Industrial Internet, a mobile autonomous motor manufacturer, while its Android smartphone assembly arm, FIH Mobile, is developing autonomous driving software and cockpit software.