Japan-based electronics conglomerate Panasonic and State-owned automobile manufacturer Beijing Automotive Industry Group Co (BAIC) will jointly set up a factory this year for key electric-vehicle parts production in China, Japanese media reported.
The facility will be located in North China's Tianjin, with an investment scale reaching "hundreds of millions of dollars," Japanese news portal nikkei.com said on Sunday.
The plant is expected to begin mass production of motor compressors, which are a key component in air conditioners of electric vehicles, in 2018. Most of the plant's output will go to BAIC, Chinese financial news portal cnstock.com reported Monday.
During Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga's visit to China in May, he reached an agreement with BAIC executives to establish the joint venture, in which BAIC will hold 54 percent while Panasonic's China unit will hold 46 percent, nikkei.com reported.
It's the first time for Panasonic to launch a joint venture with a Chinese automobile manufacturer. The move reflects the company's recent decision to retreat from the TV panel market and shift its focus to the vehicle sector, especially electric automobiles in China, according to cnstock.com.
Panasonic also plans to establish a factory to produce automotive lithium-ion batteries in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province in 2017, nikkei.com noted.
China outpaced the U.S. to become the largest electric-vehicle market in 2015.
In recent years, the Chinese government has launched policies to support environmentally friendly vehicles to curb air pollution.
