Ford joins the 'Me Too' Electric Car Club in China

Another carmaker goes electric in China, and Automologist MAC questions their decision...and design choices.

There is obviously something in the water over in China that is encouraging otherwise sane motor company executives to think that a small two-seater all electric vehicle is the motoring way forward. It would appear now that Ford Motor Corp.'s execs have been drinking the very same water.

The American automaker has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with that not very well-known Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. to investigate the creation of a new brand, with the mission of producing two-seater EVs for the domestic market, which just happens to be the current largest market for cars and also electric cars.

The Chinese government has been actively 'encouraging’ carmakers to go electric, primarily due to the lack of any sizeable and proven oil deposits in Chinese waters, and in that statement we are ignoring the recent People's Republic ‘land-grab’ of the South China Sea. This lack of any indigenous black stuff would mean that the seemingly insatiable thirst for private car ownership throughout the republic would dramatically undermine the country's balance of payments sometime soon.

So, back to the story...Zotye is a privately owned small-scale manufacturer from Huangshan in east China that should manage to make and sell about 50,000 cars this year. The tie up is a great way that both companies can leverage each other’s strengths, although I for one am a little unclear on the strengths that Zotye bring to the table, though.

The Ford Zotye - sounds a little too like Coyote for me….

Ford, like all car companies, is racing to add EVs and Hybrids to its product line-up and thus particularly in China, where the government has mandated that automakers will have to produce all EV cars there or buy credits from those that do. Hence the rush to get into the Chinese EV game and Ford's announcement is just the same game that Volvo and London Taxi Co. and VW and Nissan and in fact any car company you can think of is playing.

 

Doesn’t someone else make this car already? Scion, Smart, Nissan...

My one question, though, is why are they all racing to produce the same car - basically a Smart for Two. Surely there must be more imagination than that in the design departments.

The Detroit Electric

Okay, good EV and two-seater. Can I have this one, please?