Due to its status as an OTC-listed company and the negative rumors from the market, the board chairman and founder of Thunder Power Holdings Limited Wei Shen is careful with his responses when interviewed by media in order to not be caught by monitoring institutions like the SFI. However, Shen still responds to the media’s questions with great confidence. For example, when questioned about the company’s low research and development funds (R&D), Shen swaggeringly responds, “My name is Shen*, and minimizing costs is what I’m good at!”
With the increase of the world’s population, the demand for transportation is getting higher and higher, and more and more inhabitants from the cities are choosing to drive cars to commute. However, governments in the cities see exhaust emission from traditional automobiles as a big problem, due to the pollution they cause. Therefore, promoting Electronic Vehicles has turned into a way for many countries to reduce air pollution in the cities.
▲The attributes of Thunder Power Sedan
Although Taiwan is unable to be the leader of EV, Shen indicates that Chinese people, who are in Asia, will have Taiwan as the first market to start, then turn to Hong Kong, Macao, China, and, finally, Europe.
▲ Shen combines Zen with the design of Thunder Power’s car
Thunder Power will release 488 limited edition sports cars in the first quarter of 2018, and in 2019, the first batch of Thunder Power will be on the market. Thunder Power’s SUV product is still being planned and is expected to appear in the International Motor Show this year.
▲Thunder Power will release 488 limited edition cars in the first quarter of 2018
Last week, Thunder Power signed the contract with Taoyuan City Government to build the factory to produce the battery pack for Thunder Power in Guanyin and is expected to start mass-producing. Also, Thunder Power will continue to look for the proper location in Guanyin, Taoyuan to set up its vehicle assembly plant.
▲Currently, Thunder Power sets up factories in three places around the world: Ganzhou, Guanyin and Catalonia
Shen thinks that the government should encourage the promotion of EV rather than staying with the current ineffective subsidies. He has mentioned the following problem to Taoyuan CityMayor Wen Tsan Cheng and Chih Chiang Lo, who wants to run for Taipei City Mayor, hoping that they can exert influence and make the policies become more advantageous for promoting EV.
▲The marketing distribution of Thunder Power around the world: Ganzhou is in charge of Chinese market, Barcelona is in charge of European market, and Guanyin is in charge of Taiwanese market
For Shen, identifying with civil servants in Taiwan can be difficult. Taipei Exchange and SFI used to pick on him. Previously, because there were rumors about their faking in the market and Statementdog had suspected that the proportion of their R&D fund was weird, SFI had asked to take a look at the technology of Thunder Power. In his defense, Shen states that the low proportion of his company’s R&D is mainly due to his habit of saving cost. He also claims that he seldom loses money from development related investments. Even if he makes a wrong decision, he will quickly stop the bleeding, he adds.
▲There are a lot of displays inside the car of Thunder Power
Some people outside take Thunder Power as a Taiwanese version of Tesla. However, Shen states that the company’s cultures are very different. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is so charming that he is basically the center of the company. Thunder Power, on the other hand, emphasizes team spirit.
Although Shen stresses that he doesn’t sell any of the share which he owns, when talking about his father, a major general who had once been on good terms with former Taiwanese President Ching Kuo Chiang, and who was at one point caught by the succeeding President, Teng Hui Lee, for being the emissary for Taiwan and China, he just says that this has resulted in the formation of the negotiating organization SEF with a depressed look on his face. It seems that we will have to wait until 2019, when Thunder Power releases its EV as scheduled, for these negative thoughts to be eliminated.
Note*: Wei Shen’s surname, Shen (沈), is pronounced the same way as the Chinese word “省,” which means to save money
(Article source: Tech News; Photo source: Tech News)