Aston Martin has joined hands with Chinese company LeEco to develop an electric car. The British luxury automaker said that as a result of the collaboration, it will develop a production version of the Aston Martin RapidE electric vehicle concept.
Along with developing and manufacturing RapidE, the duo could even add a range of next-generation connected electric vehicles on behalf of Aston Martin, LeEco and Faraday Future. The partners plan to develop an electric car based on Aston Martin’s Rapide S model. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. In January 2016, LeEco and Aston Martin revealed the first results of their partnership – an Aston Martin Rapide S incorporating the latest Letv Internet of the Vehicle (IOV) system. The first model developed by this partnership will be the Aston Martin RapidE concept that was created to explore how the company can take an existing production vehicle and create an all-electric sports sedan. Both companies are now focused on bringing the RapidE to market in 2018 utilising the best technologies from the companies’ portfolios.
Commenting on the signing of the MOU, Mr. Ding Lei, co-founder and global vice chairman of SEE Plan, said,
Signing of this MOU ushers a new phase of the collaborations between Aston Martin and LeEco. LeEco’s SEE Plan is dedicated to build electric, smart, connected and socialized cars. We have been targeting the highest standard in the auto industry in terms of design, R&D and manufacturing of our electric cars. We hope that, by strengthening collaborations with Aston Martin, our future models will provide premium qualities and delicate arts and crafts as good as those of Aston Martin.”
Aston Martin CEO, Dr Andy Palmer, said,
Aston Martin are dedicated to developing a range of cars with low emission technologies. We have been encouraged by the project speed and technical depth shown by Letv in the development of the RapidE concept towards full production. Bringing the RapidE to market by 2018 is an important milestone for both companies. ”