Internet entrepreneurs back Chinese electric vehicle startup, NextEV

FRANKFURT/DETROIT (Reuters) -- Several deep-pocketed China-based web entrepreneurs and fiscal investors, including Ten-Cent and Hillhouse Money, is backing an attempt to produce NextEV, a fresh competitor to U.S. electrical auto manufacturer Tesla Motors Inc.
Hillhouse can also be an invest or in Uber, the U.S. journey-sharing support.
The backers have employed ex-Ford Motor Co. executive Martin Leach to construct a worldwide automaker, a NextEV spokeswoman stated now. The backers also have recruited specialists with prior experience at Tesla, BMW AG, Volkswagen A-G as well as other leading car companies.
The NextEV investors are among several Chinese engineering entrepreneurs with minimum automotive history that are expecting to create new electrical automobile firms. The endeavor is supported by the Chinese authorities, which recently shifted rules to support investment by non-automotive businesses.
One of the Chinese technology firms which have declared or are contemplating investments in electric-car enterprises are Alibaba, Xiaomi Engineering and Leshi.
Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes said nowadays: "We are very happy to find others make use of the Model S sedan as well as our business plan as standards, if they can be large corporations or well-financed startups."
The formation of Shanghai-centered NextEV, which has created offices in Europe as well as America, is an indication that the slow shift toward electric automobiles has reduced the barriers to entry to the automotive industry. The Chinese government in addition has provided generous incentives to support creation and sale of EVs.
"The very first version established by NextEV is going to be an electrical supercar," NextEV spokeswoman Jili Liu told Reuters. "This EV super-car is likely to out-perform all combustion (motor) super-cars on the planet."
The sports-car is likely to debut in 2016. It's going to be made to create more than 1,000 hp and accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometres an hour (62 miles-per hour) within 3 seconds, Liu stated. An assortment of high performance family vehicles will follow.
NextEV Co will be backed by Chinese internet company Tencent; William Li, the creator of internet content supplier Bitauto.com; Xiang Li, the creator of automotive web site autohome.com.cn, and Richard Liu, the creator of ecommerce site JD.com. Hillhouse Funds, that has been started with seed funds from Yale College, can also be a backer, NextEV stated.
Leach, the previous COO at Ford of Europe, is now spearheading attempts to recruit 100s of employees to perform in San Jose, California, Shanghai, Munchen, Beijing, Hong-Kong and London, Liu stated.
Leach's job is co-president, Liu said, declining to elaborate more about the leadership construction of the newest car maker.
Among NextEV's hi-res are Danilo Teobaldi, the previous leader of vehicle theories at Italdesign-Giugiaro; Juho Suh, a former senior designer at BMW, and John Thomas, a former senior system director at Tesla, according to their Linked-In profiles.
Thomas, who also worked as an engineer at Ford and Gm, helped direct the improvement in 2006-2008 of the Tesla Design S.
NextEV failed to need to reveal the degree of its own funding, stating it favored to keep such particulars private. The organization is going to initially target China as market and go beyond that at a later period, Liu stated.
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30.08.2015
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