Uzbekistan, China mulling JV for electrical vehicles

Prospects for possible production of electric vehicles in Uzbekistan were discussed at a meeting of Uzbek deputy innovations minister Atabek Nazirov with the officials of the Changan Automobile, the ministry said.

The representatives of the Chinese automaker told that their company was reviewing the possibility of building an electric vehicles assembly plant with further localization in the Ferghana Valley. The parties agreed to sign a memorandum of cooperation in the near future.

In case of successful launch of the project, the Chinese company will initially invest 15-20 million US dollars for SKD assembly of hybrid or electric vehicles, with initial capacity of 1000 class A and B vehicles per year, while localization using the supply network of Uzbek car industry is scheduled in phase II.

Changan is considered to be one of the "Big Four" Chinese automakers, and manufacture of 3 million units in 2016 saw the company rank fourth among China's automakers by production volume. It is China’s second most popular car brand, with 1.4 million Changan cars sold in 2016