Hybrid Kinetic Group, a Chinese company controlled by tycoon Yang Rong, envisions producing low-cost “green” auto parts, a move that could allow local automakers to sell advanced technology vehicles with price tags that are not much higher than a conventional car.
There’s an interesting back story here. Rong, chief executive officer of Hybrid Kinetic Group, originally planned on setting up operations to produce three million alternative-energy vehicles a year in China. However, Rong choose to flee the country in 2002 to escape persecution when he was accused of economic crimes.
There’s an interesting back story here. Rong, chief executive officer of Hybrid Kinetic Group, originally planned on setting up operations to produce three million alternative-energy vehicles a year in China. However, Rong choose to flee the country in 2002 to escape persecution when he was accused of economic crimes.
Hybrid Kinetic has reportedly identified five components – batteries, electric motors, engines, compressors and transmissions – that it plans on producing at a site the company has secured in China’s Shandong province. Production of the low-cost auto parts is expected to begin in 2012 and the company anticipates that its initial capacity will be enough to provide the five key components for up to half a million vehicles per year. Furthermore, Hybrid Kinetic claims it will be able to whip out those five parts at a cost of only 80,000 yuan ($12,015 U.S. at the current exchange rate) per vehicle.
[Source: Reuters | Image: Philip Jägenstedt – C.C. License 2.0]
