Mitsubishi Motors signs MOU to outsource EV model development to Foxconn unit
The EV model will be developed by Foxtron, manufactured in Taiwan by automaker Yulon and introduced in the Oceania region in the second half of 2026, Mitsubishi Motors said.
'Mitsubishi Motors and Foxtron will proceed with discussions towards a definitive agreement,' Mitsubishi Motors said.
The company will announce full-year financial results on Thursday.
Foxconn views Japan as a major opportunity for growing its EV business and has sought to strike partnerships with Japanese companies, Jun Seki, the Taiwan contract manufacturer's chief strategy officer for EVs, said at a Tokyo seminar in April.
The Apple supplier's interest in working with Japanese car makers comes as they face growing competition from Chinese brands that are aggressively making inroads in markets such as Europe, Brazil and Thailand.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
At last month's seminar, Seki had already confirmed that Foxconn was working with Mitsubishi but did not provide further details.
Mitsubishi Motors is a junior partner in the long-standing alliance of Nissan Motor and French automaker Renault.
Foxconn has previously said it would consider taking a stake in Nissan for cooperation, as it has ambitions to diversify into EVs. Foxtron, the company's EV joint venture with Yulon, counts Yulon-owned Luxgen as its main client in Taiwan.
In February, Nissan and rival Japanese automaker Honda Motor broke off merger talks to forge a US$60 billion car company. The deal fell apart due to Honda's proposal to make Nissan a subsidiary, sources have said. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
9 minutes ago
- Business Times
Nio's July deliveries rise 2.5% amid launch of smart large-space SUV
[SINGAPORE] Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio announced on Friday (Aug 1) after trading hours that it had delivered 21,017 vehicles in July, up around 2.5 per cent from 20,498 vehicles in the same month a year prior. This, however, is a month on month decline of nearly 15.7 per cent from 24,925 vehicle deliveries in June 2025. The group recorded 135,167 vehicle deliveries year to date in 2025, an increase of 25.2 per cent year on year. Of the company's July deliveries, 12,675 vehicles were from Nio's premium smart electric vehicle brand NIO; 5,976 vehicles from its family-oriented smart electric vehicle arm ONVO, and 2,366 vehicles from its small smart high-end electric car brand Firefly. The group's cumulative deliveries reached 806,731 as at Jul 31, 2025. This comes on the back of the launch of Nio's smart large-space flagship SUV, the ONVO L90, on Jul 31, with user deliveries starting shortly after. It was built with the evolving needs of large three-row SUV users in mind. The car is designed to be family-centric and offers two seat layouts: a six-seater and seven-seater, with prices starting at 265,800 yuan (S$47,525), or 179,800 yuan with a battery subscription option. Earlier in June 2025, Nio had reported a net loss of US$949.6 million for the first quarter of 2025 ended March, a 30.2 per cent deterioration from the same period a year before. This is despite the EV maker registering a higher total revenue for Q1, of around US$1.7 billion, an increase of 21.5 per cent from the same year-ago period, and a fall of 38.9 per cent from the previous quarter. Shares of Nio closed Friday 5.5 per cent or US$0.25 higher at US$4.79 before the news.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
China may need to trim record copper output on shortage of ore
[BEIJING] China's copper smelters could be at a turning point, as a persistent shortage of ore forces them to trim production from record levels, just as the government ramps up its campaign against overcapacity across industries. Research firm Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) projects output this month at 1.168 million tonnes, 0.5 per cent less than its peak in July, according to its monthly survey of smelters. A further drop is forecast for September. As capacity has expanded, Chinese production has hit a succession of record highs in recent months, defying tight feedstock markets and cratering profitability. But that resilience could now be reaching its limits. It also coincides with greater urgency among policymakers to fix the ruinous competition and overproduction driving deflationary pressures in the economy. While still deeply in the red, the spot fees charged by plants to treat copper concentrate have turned higher over the past month, indicating that smelters may have begun to better align their capacity with the availability of ore. Some overseas rivals, which lack the state backing enjoyed by many Chinese operators, have already begun to curtail production. A similar move in China would be highly consequential for the market, as its accounts for over half the world's refined metal. Official output figures for July are due for release by the statistics bureau on Aug 18. Beijing imposed a capacity cap on aluminium smelters nearly a decade ago, and it's been guiding steel output lower since 2020. The copper industry, deemed crucial to high-tech and green manufacturing, has faced fewer restrictions. But the economics of smelting have been crushed by shortages of both mined ore, which is turned into concentrate, and its replacement feedstock, copper scrap. At just over 560,000 tonnes, stockpiles of concentrate at Chinese ports have dropped to the lowest level this year, SMM said, forcing smelters to pare output. Production should drop further in September as five smelters with a combined capacity of 900,000 tonnes conduct maintenance, it said. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
China's small workshops are hurting, but Trump's tariffs are only one reason
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox GUANGZHOU, China – It was 36 deg C in the shade with high humidity and not a breath of wind on July 29 afternoon in a factory district in Guangzhou, the home base of China's garment manufacturing. The sewing workshops that were operating in one neighborhood were sweltering. But roughly half of the hundreds of factories were dark, with their doors closed and none of their usual bustle. Around the area, bright red signs on walls and poles indicated industrial buildings were available for sale or rent. After exchanging escalating tariffs and export restrictions in the spring, China and the Trump administration moved closer last week to another ceasefire to continue to negotiate over their myriad conflicts. But the new status quo has left high barriers between China's exporters and some of their biggest markets in the United States. Guangdong province, in southeastern China, and its capital, Guangzhou, have borne the brunt of President Donald Trump's tariffs. China's coastal export sector has been hit twice. It is paying tariffs of 30 per cent or more on shipments to the United States – extraordinarily high by historical measures – on top of previous tariffs. And exporters to the United States no longer enjoy duty-free treatment for packages worth US$800 (S$1,030) or less. In Guangzhou, thousands of small factories near the Pearl River used to supply the cheap clothing that e-commerce giants such as Shein and Temu shipped to American homes. Streets in the city's factory districts are less crowded, while managers and workers complain that many orders have evaporated. China's exports to the United States from April through June dropped 23.9 per cent from a year earlier, according to the General Administration of Customs in China. Exports of Chinese goods to developing countries have been rising, sometimes for transshipment onward to the United States. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No plans to fully liberalise cross-border ride-hailing services between Singapore and Johor: LTA Singapore LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am Singapore The past and future of Choa Bungalow, a 'last reminder' of Marine Parade's former shoreline Multimedia How Singapore is rethinking nature in the city Business Are Gen Z-ers in Singapore worried about generative AI coming for their jobs? World Trump is winning his trade war, but Americans will pay the price Singapore Ong Beng Seng to plead guilty on Aug 4, more than 2 years after trip to Qatar with Iswaran World Hamas says it will allow aid for hostages if Israel halts airstrikes, opens humanitarian corridors But Mr Trump's tariffs appear to have worsened long-term trends that have already been eroding China's light industry export sector, as the country shifts toward higher-value industries including electric cars and solar panels. At the same time, the storefront factories in Guangzhou face rising costs that are difficult to avoid. Workers are demanding that air conditioning be installed near the rows of sewing machines and fabric-cutting tables. Until three years ago, few factory owners bothered with air conditioning, said Mr Li Aoran, the manager of a workshop that makes pajamas, pants and dresses. But as China has grown more affluent, workers have become less willing to endure extreme heat for long hours toiling under rows of fluorescent lights. 'Now that people's living standards have improved, there are higher expectations for better working conditions,' he said. He paid US$3,000 in 2024 to install three large air conditioners for his clothing workshop. His electricity bill has increased by US$1,000 a month, adding about 5 per cent to his overall costs, he said. Then his orders plummeted this spring when Mr Trump began limiting access to the American market. So Mr Li, like many factory managers, has slashed his payroll. He had nearly 50 workers at the end of last year, and now employs 20. Unskilled workers, who are often younger and doing difficult jobs like ironing finished shirts, are demanding higher wages – at least US$1,100 a month, said Mr Yang Daoyong, the manager of a shirt factory. But skilled sewing machine operators, who are typically older and have few other options, are accepting a slight decline in pay, to about US$1,400 a month, he said. Decades of rapid housing construction has resulted in low rents, typically a couple hundred dollars a month, making it possible for workers to survive on these paychecks while also having enough left over to send to their families. Their paychecks, which include considerable overtime, are still a big change from a quarter-century ago, when wages were often around US$100 a month. Falling prices for finished garments are the biggest challenge for manufacturers, as a glut of production has driven down prices. Mr Yang said he had lowered the wholesale price for each shirt to US$1.40 from US$1.67 a year ago. His overall costs keep rising, though, so he tries to sell more shirts at ever thinner profit margins, he said. 'The domestic market is like a rat race,' he added. The fading of China's sweatshop sector mirrors a rapid shift in the country's labour force, which is shrinking and becoming better educated. The number of young people turning 18 each year has dropped to fewer than 16 million, from 25.5 million two decades ago. A further decline is coming: The annual number of births has fallen below 10 million in each of the past three years. At the same time, China has rapidly expanded its university system. Two-thirds of the young men and women who turned 18 in 2024 enrolled in a university or college, up from only a fifth in 2005. Unemployment in China has been a deeper problem among recent college graduates, many of whom have had to take jobs as delivery drivers in big cities. Unemployment is less visible among the dwindling ranks of middle-age workers who still toil in Guangzhou's sewing workshops. Countries such as Vietnam have been quick to absorb many of the low-wage jobs now fading away in China. All of this has workers and managers alike hoping that trade relations with the United States will stabilise soon. 'I hope the situation will improve and our business will be better,' Mr Li said. NYTIMES
