In this blog: Leshi's founder wants to rival Elon Musk by buiding more and better connected EVs in China.Jia Yueting, 41, made his Leshi Internet Information and Technology a Web TV giant in China, but is now in pursue of another ambition. In the past year Leshi's being busy developing a new vehicle and is about to apply for a manufacturing licence to create "the most connected electric car"...
This licence application will be possible once the Chinese government approves the proposal to let non-automotive companies produce vehicles.
"This is our dream and passion," says Jia in an email interview with Bloomberg, with no further details on when Leshi's electric car will hit the market.
"Look at China’s skies, all responsible corporate citizens want to do something about it. This is the truth," adds Jia.
Back in april 2014 Elon Musk, who totally changed the world in many ways – namely cars, solar enery and space travels – said that China will eventually overtake the US to become the largest market for Tesla’s electric cars. OK, Right now EVs may only be a fraction of the overall car sales, but didn't Musk got a bunch of brains around the world start thinking differently?
Seems so and it looks likeTesla's going to get some competition in China and a healthy one if we judge by Jia's words.
So far Yueting does not say a lot about the way his company intends to fund the development of electric vehicles. His only words are that they are going to be "innovative" and "will change the auto industry". But there's something Jia is more specific about:
Sounds like a challenging statement, but to us the challenge is not so much to Tesla than to the old carmakers. With new players joining the game and not interesting in another tiny ICE improvement it's a sign big guys just can't ignore.
Lot's of interesting stuff ahead – how interesting and if Leshi's gonna move ahead of Tesla is unknown to us right now, but what we know is that there's gonna be a Giga-game for sure.
Source: Bloomberg
