Foxconn Technology Group, the main manufacturer of Apple's electronics products from the iPhone to the Macbook, underpins its claim to play a leading role in the global market for electric cars.

The Taiwanese company, whose core is listed on the stock exchange as Hon Hai Precision Industry, unveiled two prototype electric cars including a pickup truck in Taipei on Tuesday.

Foxconn aims to manufacture the cars in the United States, Thailand and Taiwan, chairman Young Liu said.

His company is also in talks with partners in India and Indonesia about the local production of electric cars.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.

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Liu is trying to give the largest contract manufacturer for consumer electronics, which in addition to Apple serves a large number of major customers in the electronics industry, an additional foothold as an automotive supplier and to catch up with the competition from Tesla and Chinese start-ups.

Hon Hai only officially entered electric car production two years ago.

Foxconn has already presented five prototypes since last year, two of them in cooperation with the Italian design studio Pininfarina.

"That's Hon Hai speed," Liu said.

But the cars have so far only arrived in the smallest doses on the market.

Foxconn explained on request that 40 of the Model T, the electric bus presented in 2021, would be on the road in Taiwan this year.

The Model C sedan is to be delivered to the Taiwanese manufacturer Yulon Motor for the first time next year.

Yulon, with which Foxconn has founded a joint venture to produce electric cars, wants to sell the car under the name "Luxgen n7".

The pre-sale has started.

15,000 orders were received in the first two days, Liu said.

Foxconn as contract manufacturer

The company has ambitions far beyond Taiwan.

Foxconn has a factory in Ohio, USA, which is said to have a capacity of 500,000 to 600,000 a year.

In two years, Foxconn wants to produce around 200,000 cars a year in Thailand.

However, the Taiwanese do not want to appear as a producer with their own brand.

The company wants to offer car manufacturers an electric car platform and take over vertically integrated development and production.

He hopes that one day Foxconn will also produce cars for Tesla, Liu told reporters.

Similar to the production for manufacturers from Apple to HP and Google to Amazon, Foxconn would only act as a contract manufacturer.

Foxconn's market share in the manufacture of electronic devices is estimated at more than 40 percent.

Hon Hai is putting out feelers in different directions in the auto business and has made various deals with suppliers and customers.

In Indonesia it is about the production of batteries and electric buses, in Thailand about electric cars.

Foxconn is cooperating with Stellantis, the fourth-largest automobile manufacturer, in the development of semiconductors and vehicle cockpits.

In Hsinchu, Taiwan, Foxconn is developing its own microchips for its cars, which are scheduled to go into production next year.

Liu said Foxconn is also working on solid-state batteries.

This new technology is keeping many car manufacturers busy because it is supposed to bring a breakthrough in range and weight.

Questions about Foxconn's future as an automaker are being asked primarily in the United States after the company wanted to invest billions of dollars in a factory for LCD screens and many thousands of jobs in the state of Wisconsin years ago.

What was hailed under then-President Donald Trump as a breakthrough for America's manufacturing renaissance is now a large wasteland with few buildings and no regulated manufacturing, according to local media reports.

The skepticism is now directed at an old General Motors car factory in Ohio, which Foxconn bought from the newly founded Lordstown Motors in May.

Foxconn wants to build electric pick-ups there for Lordstown and electric tractors for Monarch.

Foxconn has concluded further partnerships for the construction of electric cars in America with Fisker and Indi EV.

However, these conventions still have to prove themselves in production and when they are ready for the market.

Lordstown Motors announced the start of commercial production at the end of September, but only had two electric pickups completed.

Lordstown wants to deliver 500 units by mid-2023, provided that the capital cover is sufficient.