Ford Motor and a Chinese automaker said Tuesday they are looking into setting up a joint venture to develop and manufacture electric cars in China in what could be part of a changing strategy for the automaker to form more partnerships to develop advanced vehicles.
Ford’s potential venture with Anhui Zotye Automobile would give the Dearborn automaker a partnership with a pioneer in the Chinese all-electric vehicle segment.
Anhui Zotye was one of the first automakers to produce all-electric passenger vehicles in the country. It is the market leader in China’s all-electric small vehicle segment.
The announcement of the partnership came on the same day that Sherif Marakby, Ford’s vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, outlined the automaker’s vision for mass-producing self-driving vehicles with the help of strategic partners.
“We plan to develop and manufacture self-driving vehicles at scale, deployed in cooperation with multiple partners, and with a customer experience based on human-centered design principles,” Marakby said in a Medium post.
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