Chinese electric car start-up Future Mobility edges closer to taking on Tesla

Future Mobility Corp (FMC), an electric car start-up considered one of China’s “Tesla challengers,” said it will unveil its first concept smart car in the second half of this year before starting mass production in 2019.

It is the latest example of China’s burning ambition to take a global lead in the development of smart vehicles – and ultimately autonomous driving technology.

Daniel Kirchert, co-founder and president of FMC, told the South China Morning Post that the concept car will be a mid-size, sport-utility vehicle (SUV) priced between 300,000 yuan (US$43,576) and 400,000 yuan and featuring a host of smart technologies. The company is ramping up preparations for a production line with a capacity of 300,000 units in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province.

“We will display an excellent product to drivers. It will lay a solid foundation for our future development of self-driving vehicles,” said Kirchert. “This is a made-in-China electric vehicle and we want to develop it into a maverick.”

FMC’s announcement followed search giant Baidu’s decision to launch its Apollo self-driving platform last week. Apollo invites companies dealing with autonomous driving technologies to jointly develop hardware and software to usher in a new era of driverless vehicles.

A clutch of mainland start-ups including FMC, Qiantu Motor, Zhiche Auto and LeEco are focusing on making affordable electric cars targeting middle-class consumers. All their developments centre around internet connectivity, in-car information and entertainment, and overcoming “range anxiety.”