Emerging EV Titans:
Aiways is a Chinese automobile manufacturer of electric cars founded in 2017. Aiways stands for "AI (artificial intelligence) is on the way," and the first 500 units of the all-electric Aiways U5 SUV are on their way to Europe. Their arrival will mark the first batch of Made-in-China EVs to be put on European roads, paving the way for a new level of affordability for long-range electric vehicles. The Aiways factory in Shangrao, China, has an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The first batch of 500 battery-powered U5s, which arrive in July, will be put into service by Hertz Corsica as rental vehicles on the Mediterranean island.
Byton is a Chinese all-electric vehicle automotive brand established in 2017, incorporated in Hong Kong, and co-founded by former BMW and Nissan Motor executives. Byton unveiled its first concept car to the public in January 2018. The company is currently running a trial shop at its Nanjing headquarters where drivable prototypes are built. It plans to introduce its M-Byte SUV model first, with the start of production scheduled for late 2019. The SUV will go on sale in China end of 2019, followed by the U.S. and European markets in the second half of 2020.
Lucid Motors, Inc. is an American automotive company specializing in electric cars. It was founded in 2007 and is based in Newark, California. On September 17, 2018, Lucid Motors announced that they were in talks with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia for funding that values the company at over $1B. The investment was completed in April 2019 and will fund the final engineering and testing of the Lucid Air model, the first-phase construction of its manufacturing plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, the commercial production of the Lucid Air, and its worldwide retail strategy beginning in North America.
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