“Making Electric Cars Is Very Easy”: Foxconn Wants to Make Cars for Nissan and More

Taiwan’s Foxconn’s interest in collaborating with major automakers should materialize next year in the production of electric vehicles for the Mitsubishi brand, which will be sold in Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, Foxconn’s director of strategy for the electric vehicle division claims that producing electric vehicles is much easier than cars with internal combustion engines.

Image source: Foxconn

Jun Seki, who was born in Japan and worked for Nissan Motor for more than 30 years, told Nikkei Asian Review that Foxconn is eager to work with not only Mitsubishi, but also Nissan Motor. Although rumors have linked Foxconn to an interest in the distressed Japanese company, Jun Seki said his company has never formally approached him with an offer to invest in Nissan Motor. He declined to comment on whether similar talks were held with Honda Motor, but made it clear that he would be willing to make an offer if the time was right for Nissan.

«”We are interested in working with all automakers. I think it would be a great idea for us to join the alliance of three companies Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi,” said a Foxconn representative. Since Jun Seki has many years of experience at Nissan, he does not hide the fact that the closeness of corporate cultures with Foxconn could theoretically greatly facilitate cooperation between the companies. In addition, such cooperation would be important from a geopolitical point of view, since it would strengthen ties between Japan and Taiwan, as TSMC is currently doing by developing chip production in Japan.

In addition to electric vehicles for Mitsubishi, which will be offered in Oceania from next year, Foxconn will offer electric buses on the Japanese market. In Taiwan, Foxconn has already been offering a wide range of electric vehicles in cooperation with Yulon Motors since 2023. “We are very confident in the speed and cost because these are electric vehicles. All this would not be possible with an internal combustion engine and transmission. It is very easy to produce electric vehicles,” said Seki, who served as deputy chief operating officer of Nissan until 2019. According to him, Foxconn’s customers can very quickly bring electric vehicles to market under their own brands, making minimal changes to the characteristics and design in accordance with their needs.

At the same time, Jun Seki emphasized that Foxconn operates in the business services market and does not intend to compete directly with automakers. At the same time, the company wants Foxconn’s customers who produce electric cars to succeed in the market. Since last week, Nissan has been headed by Ivan Espinosa, who reported to Seki when he was the head of this company. The former colleague describes the new head of the Japanese automaker as a very reliable person. If Foxconn can help this Japanese company in any way, according to Seki, it will be great.

A Foxconn representative is convinced that the trend towards electric vehicles is irreversible. They are becoming cheaper, charging times are decreasing, and the charging infrastructure is expanding. Japanese companies are still lagging behind Chinese companies in this area, and Foxconn would like to help them as much as possible. “Spring is coming to the electric vehicle market. Please wake up, Japanese automakers,” Jun Seki sums up his comments.