Oppo has started hiring automotive designers and engineers. The company, which operates under the umbrella of China-headquartered BBK, has also reportedly been meeting professionals from CATL
Oppo has become the latest smartphone brand to express interest in making electric vehicles (EV). A news published in China notes that Oppo founder and CEO Tony Chen is spearheading a car project back in China.
Chinese media has quoted Chen saying, “Even in car manufacturing, we will focus on areas that Oppo can perform well. If automakers can’t build good cars and Oppo has the strength, we will try it in the future.”
The company, which operates under the umbrella of China-headquartered BBK, has also reportedly been meeting professionals from CATL. The latter is a supplier of batteries to Tesla. It is also being reported that Chen has also started hiring automotive designers and engineers.
The company has already filed several patents around tech that are being used in autonomous cars and EVs all around the world. Some of the most popular patents that Oppo has filed include unmanned driving tech and camera systems. However, it is still unclear on what path will the company choose to enter the thriving autonomous and EV vehicle market.
It might step in as a supplier of tech to car makers, build a car company from scratch or start by buying an existing EV company like Huawei has done. It is worth mentioning here that BBK, back in China, is reported to be bigger than Apple and Huawei already. BBK operates several brands including the likes of OnePlus, Iqoo, Vivo, Oppo, Realme and more, and sells a variety of consumer electronics.
Xiaomi and Apple are already in the race
China headquartered Xiaomi and USA-based Apple are also in the race of building EVs. Apple has recently partnered with LG for its autonomous vehicle abilities whereas Xiaomi has commited investment of billion of dollars for developing EVs.
As per a report by IEA, about three million new electric cars were registered in 2020. For the first time, Europe led with 1.4 million new registrations. China followed with 1.2 million registrations and the United States registered 295 000 new electric cars. Another report by Allied Market Research notes that the global electric vehicle market was valued at $162.34 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $802.81 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 22.6 per cent. Asia-Pacific was the highest revenue contributor, accounting for $84.84 billion in 2019, and is estimated to reach $357.81 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 20.1 per cent.
India’s Union minister Nitin Gadkari had recently said that lithium-ion batteries would be manufactured fully in the country in the next six months and India will become number one electric vehicle maker in the world in due course of time.
