Fixed-point Hyundai and Ssangyong Motors jointly develop battery BYD in South Korea and the next city.

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Ssangyong, which is heavily in debt, wants to catch up in electrification. On December 22nd, Ssangyong (SsangYong Motor) announced that it would pave the way for the transformation into an electric car manufacturer in the electrified era, signing a power battery research and development contract and a memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation in the production of battery packs with BYD on December 21.

Fin Dreams Industry, a battery manufacturer wholly owned by BYD, will participate in the battery development project. " Ssangyong said it plans to install jointly developed car batteries on the U100 EV, which is expected to be mass produced in 2023. "the two companies plan to expand cooperation and jointly develop a pure electric vehicle platform for a long time."

BYD officials said they would not respond to the message released by Ssangyong.

It is reported that in September last year, BYD engineers visited the Ssangyong Pingze factory to conduct a basic investigation on the joint development of electric vehicles. This is also the first time that BYD has officially visited Ssangyong Motor. In this survey, BYD learned about the development of Ssangyong U100 and pre-tested the compatibility of parts. At the time, the industry predicted that BYD would supply the U100 with battery packs, controls, motors, charging and Discharge devices. Based on this, Ssangyong plans to produce the U100 at its plant in Pyeongze, Gyeonggi Province.

"BYD currently ranks fourth in the world in electric car sales and battery development, and through cooperation with BYD, Ssangyong is now able to pursue the transition to electric cars faster than ever before." Jung Yong-won, Ssangyong's executive vice president and legal manager, said Ssangyong hopes this cooperation will also ensure a long-term and stable supply of key components for electric vehicles. "

Data show that the U100 is Ssangyong's second pure electric vehicle after the E100, based on medium-sized SUV J100 basic development. It is equipped with key components developed by BYD and may improve driving performance and efficiency compared with the E100 with Mahindra motor and reducer.

It is worth noting that Ssangyong, once a classic South Korean car brand, is facing its third "acquisition". Ssangyong was acquired by SAIC in 2004 and parted ways five years later; in March 2011, Mahindra of India announced that it would buy a 70 per cent stake in Ssangyong for 523 billion won (3.024 billion yuan), becoming the latter's largest shareholder. However, due to sluggish sales, low R & D funds and other factors, Ssangyong Motor has fallen into an operating crisis in recent years, with debts of more than 100 billion yuan.

In October, South Korean electric bus startup Edison Motors bought Ssangyong for 223 million euros (1.66 billion yuan). In the restructuring plan submitted to the court, Edison Motors plans to triple Ssangyong's production to 300000 and make it a profitable company within three to five years, including 150000 electric vehicles and 50, 000 hybrids.

"We hope to build Ssangyong into an electric vehicle brand that can compete with global auto companies such as Tesla, Volkswagen and General Motors." Kang Young-kwon, CEO of Edison Motors, has said.

Data show that Ssangyong sold 8748 vehicles in November, down 26% from a year earlier. In July this year, Ssangyong Motor and the Pingze municipal government jointly announced that the plant and land of Ssangyong's Pingze factory would be sold, while the funds obtained from the sale of the factory would finance the new plant. According to the plan, after the new plant is completed, Ssangyong plans to have six environmentally friendly models by 2026, including the electric version of the Korando SUV, which goes on sale in Europe in October.

"with the rise of electric cars, battery supply has become a must." In the eyes of industry insiders, the cooperation between BYD and Ssangyong is to get what each needs. For BYD, after the blade battery is favored by Hyundai, it is bound to get more share of the South Korean battery market, while Ssangyong's weak performance also forces it to take the lead in the battle for battery companies. In this way, we can not only learn the technology of battery enterprises, but also enrich our own technical route with the help of different product technology solutions of battery enterprises. "