March 13 (SeeNews) - Croatia's Rimac Automobili and China's high-tech enterprise Camel Group will build a $158.2 million (128.3 million euro) plant for production of electric motors and batteries in China by the end of the year, Croatian media reported on Tuesday.
The Croatian auto manufacturer will invest 5 million euro and its know-how into the plant in Hubei province to be named Zhongke Luo Rui Technology Co, in which it will own shareholding interest of 40%, news portal Poslovni.hr reported.
The remainder will be invested by the Camel Group.
The new plant will manufacture products exclusively for the Chinese market.
"China is important to us, because it represents the largest market in the world for electric cars, buses, trucks and other means of transport and has the highest growth," the media outlet quoted the founder and CEO of Rimac, Mate Rimac, as saying.
The Chinese government plans to switch entirely to electric vehicles, which means the demand for electric motors, batteries and other systems installed in those vehicles will rise around twenty-fold, Rimac explained.
Late last year, storage battery manufacturer Camel Group signed an agreement to make a 30 million euro direct investment in Rimac to help it accelerate growth, introduce new products to the market and expand its global presence.
Rimac Automobili started in a garage in 2009 and has become an important player in the electric vehicle industry - designing, developing and manufacturing their own high-performance fully electric supercars while delivering key technologies to many global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Becoming a Tier 1 supplier to major automotive companies remains the core focus of the company, Rimac Automobili has said.
($=0.811061 euro)