SHANGRAO, Jiangxi – Fu Qiang believes as long as AIWAYS remains conscientious and serious about building products and a company, production approval will come naturally.

The co-founder and president of China’s latest smart EV startup made the comments at a media briefing here on September 29 on the sidelines of an industry forum sponsored by AIWAYS.

It will debut its first product, a super car, at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2018 and launch it to market by the end of 2018, according to Fu, before it starts production of a smart EV for the mass market toward the second half of 2019. Both are under development.

Founded in early 2017, AIWAYS so far has assembled a senior executive team composed of people with vast prior experience in both the auto and internet industries. The name itself means AI on

the way and the logo depicts the letter A on its side and letter I together formed into an “X” that denotes the crossover nature of AIWAYS.

AIWAYS’ first super car will be the work of Roland Gumpert, the father of Audi Quattro and former sales and marketing director at Audi China, now Chief Product Officer of AIWAYS. He is also CEO of AIWAYS’ German subsidiary company that will be responsible for the development of a high-end brand and sports car series.

The rest of the team is composed of Fu, an industry veteran who has held numerous sales and marketing roles at Beijing-Benz, FAW-Volkswagen Audi Sales Division, SAIC-Škoda and Volvo Cars China; CEO and CFO Gu Feng, who used to be the CFO of SAIC Motor; Vice President Jin Xin in charge of brand, who used to be

with BAIC BJEV and Audi; Vice President Qiu Xiaochuan in charge of manufacturing, who used to be with Beiqi-Foton and SAIC-Volkswagen; Vice President and CTO Wang Dongchen, who used to be with FAW and FAW-Volkswagen; Vice President in charge of sales Zhan Gengwu, who used to be with Volvo Cars China and SAIC- Škoda.

“We are going to be vastly different from traditional automakers in terms of distribution,” said Fu. “We are going to start from zero and create a distribution channel that truly meets current consumer and

market demands. The existing distribution channel of traditional automakers has their advantages but is also a handicap for development. This is why we hope to drive the evolution of the market.”

While AIWAYS is in the process of applying for production approval, it has also been busy forming partnerships and building its plant in Shangrao.to get more information, please click “read more” to subscribe.

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