SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Engine developer Horse Powertrain is working on vehicle projects with Chinese automakers Leapmotor, Chery and Jianghuai Automobile to tap global markets outside China, an executive said on Wednesday.
Horse is a joint venture between Renault and Geely, which each own 45% of the company. Oil producer Saudi Aramco owns the remaining 10%.
“We have a lot of worldwide collaborations with different automakers,” Wang Ruiping, CEO of Horse’s subsidiary Aurobay told reporters at the company’s office in China’s eastern city of Ningbo, naming the three Chinese automakers among the partners Horse is working with, but did not elaborate further.
Leapmotor is an electric vehicle manufacturer, but CEO Zhu Jiangming told Reuters last month that the company’s plans to expand its lineup to 15 models by 2027 include launching a plug-in hybrid.
Horse consists of the former engine development arms of Geely, Renault and Volvo and has 17 engine and transmission factories worldwide, including eight in China.
The company aims to be the world’s biggest engine maker by 2035. It has developed hybrid engines for Renault and Geely in models such as Renault’s Grand Koleos SUV for the South Korean market and Zeekr’s flagship SUV, the Zeekr 9X.
(Reporting by Zhang YanEditing by Ros Russell)
