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Electric & new energy vehicles
BusinessChina Business

Will Qiantu Motor get a new lease on life from China’s electric car boom after its yearlong production halt?

  • Carmaker resumes production of K50 sports car, reveals ambitions of becoming a global player with a new model
  • The EV industry is still attractive to financiers because of its growth potential in China, analyst says

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Qiantu Motor’s K50 sports car. Photo: Handout
Daniel Ren
Qiantu Motor, one of China’s earliest electric vehicle (EV) start-ups, is planning a comeback to the country’s fast-growing market for such cars after a one-year hiatus.

The carmaker, which is a subsidiary of CH-Auto Technology and is based in Suzhou, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, had resumed production of its K50 sports car last weekend, according to a company statement. It also revealed ambitions of becoming a global player with a new model, the K20.

Two sources with knowledge of the company’s business strategy said Qiantu had secured fresh funding from investors, which had helped it resume production and new model development.

“The EV industry is still attractive to financiers based on the growth potential in China,” said Wang Feng, chairman of Shanghai-based financial services company Ye Lang Capital. “With fresh capital, some underperformers from previous years are being given a second chance.”

A crowded Chinese market had 500 EV firms three years ago, as it was commonly held that Beijing would roll out strong incentives to support the growth of these companies. However, only a small number of such companies, including the likes of NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto, have flourished over the past few years.

Qiantu was established in 2015 and was the sixth EV start-up to receive manufacturing licences from China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the country’s ministry of industry and information technology. The K50, its first model, debuted in August 2018 with a price tag of 686,800 yuan (US$107,785) after subsidies.

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