- Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, wants to build your next car.
- The Taiwanese giant assembles iPhones, iPads and all sorts of other devices.
- He strikes deals to build cars for electric vehicle startups — and wants to build cars for Tesla one day.
Chances are, your next electric car — maybe your first electric car — will be made by the same company as the iPhone you’re holding in your hands right now.
And no, we’re not talking about Apple’s long-talked-about self-driving vehicle, which Bloomberg says was postponed to 2026. Nor is Google preparing its own rival Tesla.
Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant that assembles all sorts of popular devices including the iPhone, iPad, Kindle and Nintendo Switch, is diving headfirst into the world of electric vehicles. But rather than selling EVs under its own brand, it wants to design and manufacture cars for established automakers and the next generation of EV startups.
In other words, what Foxconn is currently doing for Apple, it hopes to do for Tesla. In October, Foxconn’s chairman said the company was aiming to will one day manufacture 40 to 45% of the electric vehicles in the worldat the height of its success in electronics.
Foxconn unveiled a prototype electric pickup truck in October.
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Foxconn unveiled its first prototype electric vehicles last year and was quick to build up a list of automotive customers. Earlier this year, the iPhone maker bought a former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio from struggling auto startup Lordstown Motors. Lordstown Motors has just started ship electric vans made by Foxconn to customers.
Fiskeranother EV upstart, has typed Foxconn to manufacture its second vehicle, the Pear, in Ohio starting in 2024. Foxconn will also build prototypes for another startup, the Indi EV. And it has signed a partnership with Yulon Motor of Taiwan.
Volkswagen is consider hiring foxconn to build its new Scout-branded electric SUV and pickup truck for U.S. buyers, Germany’s Automobilwoche reported in November.
Foxconn’s foray into electric vehicles is a smart move, Bill Russo, founder and CEO of automobility, a Shanghai-based automotive industry consultancy, told Insider. The company has had great success taking on the capital-intensive parts of electronics manufacturing, in part because it is able to purchase components in such large volumes. And, he said, he is well placed to do the same for electric vehicle makers, who want to reduce the huge investments needed to develop and bring a car to market.
Additionally, vehicles are increasingly internet-connected and computerized, requiring more and more electronic components that Foxconn is familiar with.
“It’s a lot like the devices that Foxconn builds today. Lots of screens, lots of chips, lots of things they know they buy in sufficient quantity” to keep costs down, Russo said.
Tu Le, General Manager of Automobile Consulting Sino Auto Insights, says Foxconn’s entry will be a boon for EV startups that don’t have the money to build their own factories. The American Upstarts Rivian and Lucid have spent huge sums to set up their own factories, but not all new electric vehicle companies have that kind of access to capital.
“There are going to be a lot of light electric vehicle startups coming out in the next 24 to 30 months in the United States, and they’re going to need a factory with a capacity that can sell them a finished product at a price of big,” he said.
And Le could see existing automakers without strong union ties – like You’re here — one day outsource production to Foxconn. But first, the company will have to prove that it can produce electric SUVs and pickup trucks on the same level as its iPads and iPhones.
“It’s a ton of opportunity ahead of them if they can prove that the first vehicles that roll off the line in Ohio are of the highest quality, the highest reliability, and the highest safety standards to which Americans expect,” Le said.
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