Ford, Chinese partner look at possible electric car venture

BEIJING — Ford Motor Co. and a Chinese automaker said Tuesday they are looking into setting up a joint venture to develop and manufacture electric cars in China.

Ford's potential venture with Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. adds to the global auto industry's rising activity in electric vehicles for China, which passed the United States last year as the biggest market for them.

Chinese planners who see electrics as a promising industry and a way to clean up smog-choked cities are pushing automakers to speed up development.

Ford previously said it plans to offer electric versions of 70% of its models in China by 2025.

Privately owned Zotye Auto, headquartered in the eastern city of Huangshan, produces its own electric vehicles and said sales in the first seven months of this year rose 56% over the same period of 2016 to 16,000.

"This presents us with an exciting opportunity to leverage each other's strengths," Zotye chairman Jin Zheyong said in a joint statement.

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Sales of pure-electric and gasoline-electric hybrids in China rose 50% last year over 2015 to 336,000 vehicles, or 40% of global demand. U.S. sales totaled 159,620.

Beijing has supported sales with subsidies and a planned quota system that would require automakers to produce electric cars or buy credits from companies that do.

Ford said it expects China's market for all-electrics and hybrids to grow to annual sales of 6 million by 2025.

Volvo Cars announced plans this year to make electric cars in China for global sale starting in 2019. General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG, Nissan Motor Co. and others also have announced plans to make electric vehicles in China.