Haima, Bird Group join hands to enter electric vehicle segment

Chinese automaker Haima Automobile on Thursday announced its entry into the Indian market with the unveiling of an electric hatchback.

Haima New Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has entered into a pact with Bird Electric, a unit of Bird Group for rolling out electric vehicles in the country.

The partners plan to roll out an entry-level car, which is expected to be priced around Rs 10 lakh, in early 2022.

The hatchback, christened as Bird Electric EV 1, would come in two variants with range of 200-300 kms per charge.

"With the world moving towards clean mobility we are satisfied that with the launch of Bird Electric EV 1 today we have entered the fastest growing segment in the Indian automobile segment," Haima Automobile International Corporation GM Williams Dong said.

As part of the collaboration, Haima Bird Electric will get the vehicle from Haima in a completely knocked down (CKD) condition.

Bird Electric on its part will set up a plant in Manesar to assemble the vehicle.

"The alliance has put in significant time evaluating the electric car market in India studying evolving customer preferences before bringing this announcement," Bird Electric Director Ankur Bhatia said.

Bird Electric also announced a tie-up with US-based Bird Rides Inc to introduce Bird Cruiser,a two wheeled electric vehicle for B2B segment.