Changan and Geely join hands to produce hybrid powertrains

Chinese carmaker Chongqing Changan Automobile Co has joined hands with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co in a subsidiary joint venture to develop hybrid powertrains, hoping to realize an ambitious new energy vehicle plan.

Changan Automobile, Kunming Yunnei Power Co and Hunan Corun New Energy Co plan to inject more than 460 million yuan ($70.7 million) in total into Corun Hybrid System Technology Co, or CHS.

Changan Automobile is investing 100 to 120 million yuan in money and technology properties valued at 80 to 100 million yuan.

Hunan province based CHS is a joint venture established between Corun and Geely in 2014 for research and development of hybrid powertrains, with a 10 billion yuan investment plan.

CHS is expected to start volume production by 2017 with an annual production capacity of 100,000 powertrains, after completing the first phase of plant construction. It has received 100 million yuan fiscal support from the government, according to a stock exchange document Corun filed last year.

Yang Dayong, director of the brand and product department at Changan Automobile, told local media: "The company is developing new energy vehicles with two types of powertrains, both plug-in hybrid and pure electric, because the direction for the development of new energy vehicles is not set yet, and there's no agreement on approaches in the industry."

Changan Automobile announced in March 2015 that a total of 34 new energy models would be launched by 2025, including 27 pure electric cars and seven plug-in hybrid cars.

Zhong Faping, chairman of Corun, said that the hybrid powertrain technology platform is a platform open to everyone, and CHS is also promoting cooperation with other car makers. He envisions more automakers and part suppliers working with CHS in the future.

Hunan Corun, which specializes in automotive traction battery productions, has had a joint venture with Toyota Motors since 2013, and became the world's number one automaker's major battery supplier in China.

Geely said in a statement: "CHS is an open platform, and we embrace new partnerships with an open mind for win-win cooperation."

Geely has a right to inject up to 200 million yuan in the future.

Geely Automobile is set to launch its CHS powered Emgrand EC7 hybrid electric edition in the first half of this year. The car consumes just 4.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers.

Six Emgrand cars powered by 1.8-liter methanol engine were tested in Iceland on Tuesday.

The automaker plans to have more than 90 percent of its total sales volume contributed by NEV models, according to the strategy it announced in November last year. Its NEVs also include methanol vehicles, besides plugin hybrid, pure electric, hybrid electric vehicles.