Another Chinese NEV manufacturer has opted to manufacture its own batteries! On October 3, Skyworth Auto held an opening ceremony for its battery subsidiary in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, which is within China’s Jiangsu Province. On that same day, Skyworth’s battery plant also entered operation.
Through the battery subsidiary, Skyworth has invested RMB 500 million into the battery plant in Xuzhou. The plant site comprises one battery module assembly line, two battery pack assembly lines, and 20 quality inspection lines that test the performances of individual battery products. The battery plant has a production capacity of 1.2GWh per year. Its output value is project to reach RMB 100 million for October, RMB 400 million for the entire 2022, and RMB 1.2 billion for the entire 2023.
Skyworth Auto’s parent company Skywell New Energy Automobile Group (Skywell) was founded by Huang Hongsheng in Nanjing in 2010. Skywell then acquired and reorganized several domestic vehicle manufacturers including Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus. Skywell entered the passenger car market in 2017. A year later, it launched the ET5 (or Skyworth’s EV6), which is an electric crossover SUV. Skyworth Auto and Skywell Auto are currently automotive brands under Skywell Group, while Skyworth Group is a separate conglomerate that focuses on consumer electronics, communication technologies, real estates, etc.
After obtaining the capital for developing passenger cars in 2017, Skywell stepped up its R&D efforts and manufactured its first batch of engineering prototype vehicles under the Skywell brand near the end of 2019. In March 2021, Skywell Group and Skyworth Group signed a trademark transfer agreement. As a result, Skywell Group obtained 11 brand names including “Skyworth.” Recently, Skyworth Auto has been gradually replacing Skywell Auto, and the ET5 has been upgraded to become the EV6. Skyworth Auto can thus be regarded as Huang’s second major startup venture after Skyworth Group, which has experienced both operational and legal problems in recent years.
Currently, Skyworth Auto is offering two vehicle models: the EV6 and the HT-i. Released this September 5, the HT-i is a plug-in hybrid SUV that has adopted BYD’s DM-i plug-in hybrid powertrain system to obtain a battery-electric range of 200km and a combined range of 1,267km. The HT-i is priced between RMB 146,800 and RMB 242,800.
With the release of the HT-i, Skyworth Auto will be expanding into both the battery-electric vehicle market and the plug-in hybrid vehicle market. According to the company’s own roadmap, battery-electric and “ultra-intelligent” plug-in hybrid vehicles are the two major market segments that will be under its focus. In the next three to five years, the company will be developing SUVs and sedans that meet the standards for B- and C-type NEVs.
It is also worth mentioning that when the HT-i was unveiled, Huang also announced annual vehicle sales targets of 25,000 units by 2025 and 1 million units by 2030. Regarding the 2030 target, half of those sales are expected to be made in overseas markets.
According to the latest available data, Skyworth Auto delivered 2,560 vehicles this September. Of that monthly total, 1,149 were shipped overseas. From January to September this year, Skyworth Auto delivered 13,515 vehicles. The company projects that its annual vehicle sales will reach the level of 30,000 units for 2022. The company’s own data also indicate that the total overseas vehicle sales have surpassed 4,000 units since the exportation of its vehicles began in 2021. Currently, Skyworth vehicles are sold in 42 countries and regions, including Germany, Israel, the US, Jordan, and Dubai.
This article is a translation of a Chinese article posted by TrendForce. It contains information that is either sourced from other news outlets or accessible in the public domain. Some Chinese names are transcribed into English using Hanyu Pinyin.