China Auto Trending Hashtag| Changan Ford new car/ New JMC

1. Leading Ideal’s $530M Round-C financing

On August 16, Leading Ideal Automobile announced that it had completed the round-C financing of $530 million. The current round of financing was led by Wang Xing, founder of Meituan, with a post-investment valuation of about $2.93 billion. So far, the cumulative financing of Leading Ideal has reached $1.575 billion.

It is reported that the Leading Ideal One, Leading Ideal’s first extended-range smart electric SUV, will start the test drive activities in 13 cities nationwide in September. The car will start its mass production in October, and be delivered to customers in November.

2. JMCG, Changan and AIWAYS teamed up

On August 16, the launching ceremony of the joint venture of Jiangling Group (JMCG), Changan Automobile and AIWAYS Automobile was held in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. In order to comply with the development trend of the automobile industry and national policy requirements, the three parties reached a joint venture agreement on Jiangling Motors Co. Ltd. (JMC). According to the agreement, the new JMC was reorganized by AIWAYS, JMCG and Changan with 50%, 25% and 25% share ratio respectively.

It is reported that the new JMC will innovate in the core technologies including brand, market and electrification, the application of IT and intelligence, forming a complete industrial system and innovation system from key components to complete vehicles.

In addition, the new joint venture company will also form a pattern driven by dual-brand of Landwind and AIWAYS, dual R&D institutions and dual manufacturing bases. Among them, the Landwind brand targets the middle and low-end customers, and the R&D institution is in Nanchang, and its products cover traditional vehicles and new energy vehicles. The production base is also in Nanchang. AIWAYS brand positioning high-end users, R&D institution, which is located in Shanghai, will focus on the R&D of new energy vehicles, and its production base in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province. The resources of the two sides in research, production, supply and marketing will be completely opened to and shared with each other. The three parties will combine and complement each other to achieve rapid and sustainable development.

3. Three new Changan Ford unveiled

On August 16th, FUN DAY, Ford Brand Day, kicked off at the Shanghai International Circuit. Changan Ford debuted all the models on the track for the first time. Three new models representing Ford's latest technology were also released. They are the new Edge ST/ST-Line, the new Focus Active and the new Taurus.

The three new cars released this time are equipped with Ford's leading intelligent driving assistance system Co-Pilot360^TM, which has intelligent equipments such as full-speed intelligent ACC system, LC intelligent navigation aid system, and AEB, and has reached the L2 level of automatic driving. Since 2019, most of the Ford’s new models sold in China will be equipped with the Co-Pilot360^TM.