Magna International Inc is to develop a modular electric vehicle (EV) with Israeli start-up REE Automotive, helping the Canadian auto supplier and contract manufacturer muscle further into a growing field of EV players.
The companies agreed to jointly design, engineer and build the EVs using REE’s platform, the skateboard-like base that supports different vehicle designs on top.
The EVs can be built to the exact specifications of “global technology companies and e-mobility players” while speeding their entry into the market, Magna and REE said in a statement.
“Many big tech companies are very much interested in creating mobility services and solutions that are global, big — but they don’t exist today,” REE chief executive officer Daniel Barel said in an interview on Sunday. “That vehicle can have any brand that the brand owner wants, but it’s powered by REE.”
The location and timeline for production, as well as financial terms, were not disclosed.
Barel said the companies would split any revenues generated.
The start-up has signed agreements representing orders for about 260,000 vehicles that would use REE’s platform, Barel said.
Magna, which has been touted as a potential partner for a self-driving vehicle from Apple Inc, has made vehicles under contract for BMW AG and Jaguar Land Rover.
Last year, it formed a joint venture with South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc to make EV powertrains, aiming to position itself for the boom in electric vehicles.
Magna is the world’s third-largest auto supplier, producing everything from chassis and car seats to sensors and software.
The Aurora, Ontario-based company also landed a deal with Fisker Inc in October last year to make the electric Ocean sports utility vehicle, which is to be built in a Magna plant in Graz, Austria, starting late next year.
It is also expanding its manufacturing footprint in China, the largest EV market, by building the ArcFox Alpha-T for Beijing Automotive Group Co (北汽集團) — the first vehicle it has assembled outside of Europe.
Tel Aviv-based REE in February agreed to merge with blank-check company 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. The deal valued the combined entity at about US$3.1 billion.
Magna was one of the PIPE — or private investment in public equity — investors that participated in the deal.
The start-up’s technology integrates all of the traditional, core components for an EV — like the powertrain, suspension and braking — into arched wheel-well assemblies. It then fits those onto the four corners of a flat, modular chassis that can accommodate a wide range of battery packs and vehicle types.
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