Hon Hai, Tencent electric car venture hires former BMW executive as CEO

China Harmony Auto Holding

01/02/2016 08:46

BEIJING, Feb 1 (Reuters) - A former BMW AG executive will 
lead the electric car joint venture of Taiwan's Hon Hai 
Precision Industry Co Ltd  2317.TW , China's Tencent Holdings 
Ltd  0700.HK  and China Harmony Auto Holding Ltd  3836.HK , the 
company said on Monday. 
    Carsten Breitfeld, who according to his LinkedIn profile was 
until recently a BMW vice president for development of the i8 
hybrid sports car, will become chief executive officer of 
Harmony Futeng Internet and Intelligent Electric Vehicle 
Company, it said in a statement. 
    Harmony Futeng, launched last March, is one of several 
Chinese tech companies trying to develop "smart" and electric 
vehicles. These include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd  BABA.N , 
Baidu Inc  BIDU.O  and Leshi Internet Information and Technology 
Corp Beijing  300104.SZ , recently rebranded as LeEco. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N0WP433 
    Harmony Futeng said Daniel Kircher, a former Nissan Motor Co 
Ltd  7201.T  executive, will join as chief operating officer. 
Previously, Kircher headed Nissan's  7201.T  Infiniti joint 
venture in China with Dongfeng Motor Corp  0489.HK  and before 
that he was with BMW's joint venture with Brilliance China 
Automotive Holdings Ltd  1114.HK . 
    China's government is promoting electric vehicles to cut the 
smog that frequently envelops cities, helping sales quadruple 
last year and turning it into the world's biggest market, 
according to officials. Less than 1 percent of passenger cars 
now run on so-called new energy. 
    China's government predicts production of electric and 
plug-in hybrid vehicles will grow almost six times to 2 million 
annually by 2020. 
 
 (Reporting by Paul Carsten; Editing by Miral Fahmy) 
 ((paul.carsten@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1299; Reuters 
Messaging: paul.carsten.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net / 
Twitter: @PaulCarsten)) 
 
Keywords: CHINA AUTOS/