The agreement will permit Phoenix Motor Inc to use the facilities ‘rent-free’ for an initial term of ten years. The company has said it will use this expanded manufacturing footprint to support the manufacture and assembly of its EdisonFuture-branded EVs: the EF2, EF3 e-SUVs and the compact MEV1, MEV2, and MEV3 city cars. The facility will also be used to produce selected EV components for Phoenix’s US facilities in Anaheim, California and Greenville, South Carolina.
Denton Peng, CEO of Phoenix Motor, commented: “This partnership represents a significant expansion of our global manufacturing infrastructure and a pivotal step in Phoenix’s international growth strategy. With this addition, Phoenix now operates close to 2 million square feet of EV manufacturing capacity worldwide, reinforcing our ability to meet accelerating demand from both the US and global markets.”
The agreement is with Shandong Maolin Sida Automobile Co and Mengzhou Enbowei Automobile, two Chinese EV companies. It will mean Phoenix must establish a subsidiary in Mengzhou, China to manage operations, and also gives the company the option of acquiring a majority stake in Enbowei after five years of operation.
Phoenix Motor also produces commercial vehicles under the Phoenix EV brand, including light and medium duty trucks and buses. However, it does not appear that it will use the Henan facilities to produce these vehicles, besides the aforementioned use of them to create components. Earlier this month, Phoenix announced the MEV2/LSV, a specialised low-speed delivery EV designed specifically for food delivery couriers. It will be assembled in California and leased as part of Phoenix’s Fleet-as-a-Service offering which rolls leasing, charging, maintenance and telematics into a single subscription. This will be geared towards food delivery providers such as Uber Eats, Door Dash, Instacart and other last-mile logistics brands.
accessnewswire.com
