Another day, another Chinese electric car startup with major ambitions and big funding.
WM = Weltmeister = World Master
威马汽车CEO沈晖首度公开露面 透露未来产品计划
This week, Bloomberg reported on WM Motor, an electric car startup led by Freeman Shen, the exec behind the acquisition of Volvo by Chinese auto maker Zhejiang Geely. Shen left Geely two years ago and launched WM Motor last year.
The company has now reportedly raised $1 billion in funding, making WM Motor the latest well-funded startup hoping to make or sell electric cars in China. The long list of newcomers includes Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang, which owns Karma Automotive (the revived Fisker), NextEV, Atieva, and LeEco, which funds Faraday Future.
Bloomberg noted there’s more than 200 Chinese electric car companies building 4,000 new electric car models.
WM Motor plans build a factory in eastern China, launch its first electric car model in 2018, and eventually produce 100,000 cars per year. The company’s cars will target the mass market in contrast to Tesla’s current cars and Karma Automotive’s planned first cars.
Freeman Shen, founder and CEO of WM Motor Technology Co, Ltd poses for a photograph at his office in shanghai, China, August 1, 2016
WM MOTORS ELECTRIC VEHICLES
华为百度突然宣布：威马汽车今年将实现量产下线
纯电系统，600公里续航能力。威马汽车采用的是一套纯电动系统，最高续航可达600km，也就是说充一次电跑个跨省距离好无压力。
快速充电，半小时彻底搞定。汽车从亏电到充满电仅仅需要30分钟，车主们再也不用担心电量不足了。
良心定价，20万元起。这个是没有补贴之前的价格，为的就是要让中国人都能买得起本国生产的智能轿车。
外形炫酷，科技感爆棚。尾单采用横贯式的设计，隐藏式门把手，门把手自动弹出。内饰也是十分惊艳，中控部分采用了一整块大尺寸液晶屏幕，比奔驰 E 级车还大，而且还可以根据使用者需求自由旋转。
http://tech.ifeng.com/a/20180220/44882698_0.shtml
WM Motor’s New EX5 Electric SUV & Weltmeister Brand WM Motor’s first car, the EX5 SUV, is reported to be priced below RMB 200,000 ($30,200). (Note: that’s what Reuters says, but other sources differ, indicating RMB300,000, or $45,340). It has an electric range of 600 km. Reuters was told by Freeman Shen, WM Motor’s founder and chief executive, that the company plans to start producing the EX5 SUV at a new plant in Wenzhou during the second quarter of next year, which seems incredibly fast for a startup to build, equip, and produce a new SUV. Freeman Shen also told… Read more »
威马汽车（WM Motor）成立于2015年12月，是国内新兴的新能源汽车企业及出行方案提供商，创始人为前吉利控股集团副总裁、沃尔沃全球高级副总裁兼沃尔沃中国区董事长沈晖。
威马汽车基于全球人才、科技、研发、制造及产业链资源，致力于为中国消费者提供完善、便捷、舒适的出行体验。WM是德文Weltmeister世界冠军单词的缩写，威马汽车的目标是制造一台高品质、高可靠性、有良好用户体验的“世界冠军”级别主流智能汽车，并围绕产品构建新型智慧出行方案。目前威马已拥有超过300人的核心团队，分布在上海、德国、北京和成都。
So Chinese EV business is booming