Best known as the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone, Foxconn is reportedly locking down a deal to produce battery-electric vehicles with two Japanese automakers. Details have yet to be revealed but Mitsubishi appears to be one of the new partners and there is speculation Foxconn may be working out arrangements with either Nissan or Honda, those two Japanese automakers having failed to secure their own merger deal. More from Headlight.News.
Foxconn has wanted to get into the EV market for six years and showed off several concepts in 2021.
Hoping to grow beyond the consumer electronics market, Foxconn has reportedly lined up an alliance with Mitsubishi to enter the battery-electric vehicle market. The Taiwanese tech giant reportedly also is working on a deal with a second Japanese automaker and speculation points to either Nissan or Honda, both those companies reportedly looking for partners following the collapse of their own merger talks in January.
Foxconn has been looking to get into the EV market since 2019 and previously inked deals with three EV start-ups: Lordstown Motors, Fisker and Byton. All have since gone bankrupt, though Foxconn emerged from its short-lived tie-up with Lordstown by taking over the failed automaker’s EV plant in northeast Ohio.
According to reports in Nikkei Asia, Foxconn’s first two EVs could reach production later this year.
Foxconn gets serious about EVs
Foxconn formed several previous alliances in a bid to get into the EV market, including one with now bankrupt Lordstown Motors. It now plans to use its Ohio plant to produce its own EVs.
Formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn is a major Asian supplier of consumer electronics goods, most notably serving as the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone. It has done little to hide its interest in entering new markets, notably EVs. While the tie-ups with Lordstown, Fisker and Byton fell flat, it now appears to be looking for ways to partner with more established automakers, much the way Sony, another consumer electronics giant, has done with Honda. They are preparing to launch the all-new Afeela brand of EVs, a production version shown off at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show.
Foxconn CEO Liu signaled his company’s plans on March 14, the Taiwan Central News Agency reporting that he said deals with two Japanese automakers could be inked within the next two months.
He did not say which companies those are, but Foxconn had previously shown interest in acquiring, or partnering with, the struggling Nissan Motor Co. Liu had also told reporters in February that he could see a four-way alliance with Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi.
Enter Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi currently produces the 2025 Outlander plug-in hybrid but sees an alliance with Foxconn as a way to help fund a push into pure electric technology.
A subsequent report this week in Nikkei Asia points directly at Mitsubishi as being one of Foxconn’s new allies.
Mitsubishi has spent the last decade struggling to get its house in order, the company sidestepping a total collapse after a series of scandals only when Nissan took control in 2016. It became part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance but that three-way partnership has largely come undone in recent years and Mitsubishi has struggled to regain more independence.
According to Nikkei, Mitsubishi and Foxconn have been in negotiations since last autumn. The Japanese automaker reportedly will jointly develop new EVs and then serve as a contract manufacturer for Foxconn. Longer term, Mitsubishi hopes to repeat that strategy with other partners.
While Mitsubishi wouldn’t comment on a possible Foxconn deal it issued a statement noting it will “continue to explore collaboration opportunities with various partners to achieve sustainable growth.” Tie-ups, such as the one apparently in process with Foxconn, would help Mitsubishi generate the cash it needs to become a player in the emerging EV market. That has been straining the budget of a company that last year sold only 945,000 vehicles worldwide, many of them low-end offerings generating marginal profits.
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Foxconn set to launch two EVs of its own – one in the U.S.
Foxconn’s fortunes have ridden on the success of the Apple iPhone it assembles.
Foxconn’s ambitions appear to be big, the company apparently hoping to rival some of the EV manufacturers emerging from mainland China, such as BYD and Geely.
It isn’t waiting for its proposed alliances to get going. It has announced plans to build a compact EV hatchback in Taiwan later this year, the Model B similar in size to the Volkswagen ID.3, noted Nikkei. Separately, it will restart operations at its plant in Lordstown, Ohio to roll-out a larger all-electric vehicle dubbed the Model C. That product is expected to go into production before the end of 2025.
The Taiwanese company reported record earnings this year, much of that driven by strong sales of the latest Apple products. Ironically, then, it has said its long-term goal is to become the “Android of EVs.”
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