British luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., is partnering with LeEco, a Chinese consumers electronics company, in its pursuit to produce an electric car by 2018.
The partnership also opens the potential for Aston Martin to work with startup electric car maker, Faraday, as it is also backed by LeEco (formerly known as Letv). The team up is all in line with LeEco's plans to build a U.S.-based factory that is set to focus on the production of consumer electric cars, and make it available to the market by 2017, according to Wall Street Journal.
To start off the project, Aston Martin and LeEco is eyeing an electric version of the British car maker's Rapide S model, before proceeding to developing other potential electric vehicles for both companies.
"It brings Aston Martin's electric car project forward," said Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Chief Executive. Palmer also revealed that the cars will be manufactured in a factory in Gaydon, England, according to Reuters.
The partnership of the two companies is also a show of force by the Chinese tech industry, as more companies showcase that they are now capable of supplying cutting-edge vehicle technology, far from the time when they were only expected to produce low-tech car part supplies, according to USA Today.
China has also been looking for ways to lessen the pollution in its country, and electric cars are on top of its list of solutions. As a result, the demand for electric cars has quadrupled over the last year, with China as the biggest market, Reuters added.
