Spotlight Automotive, BMW’s 50-50 electric vehicle (EV) venture with mainland Chinese partner Great Wall Motor, is designing new models that it hopes to sell globally, reports the South China Morning Post. Cars including models under BMW-owned brand Mini will be sold in markets such as Europe and Southeast Asia after Spotlight starts assembling them in China’s eastern Jiangsu province later this year, Jason Zhang, director of governance and public relations at the EV venture, told the Post on Friday.
“Except for markets that levy unreasonably high tariffs [on Chinese-made EVs], Spotlight is designing and building cars for customers all over the world,” Zhang said on the sidelines of an investment promotion event in Shanghai. “We have the vision of building cars that cater to demand from people worldwide.”
Spotlight was founded in 2019, with BMW and Great Wall, China’s largest sport-utility vehicle maker, each contributing equally towards a total investment of RMB 5.1 billion ($704.7 million). The company owns a factory in Jiangsu province’s Zhangjiagang city that is capable of assembling 160,000 vehicles a year, and a research and development centre in Shanghai that employs about 300 engineers.