China's Foton aims to sell 200,000 new energy commercial vehicles by 2025

Daimler's Chinese truck venture partner Beiqi Foton Motor aims to sell 200,000 new energy commercial vehicles a year by 2025, its chairman said on Saturday.

Beijing-based Foton, a BAIC Group unit, will develop electric, hydrogen fuel cell and gasoline-electric trucks and vans, Zhang Xiyong told a conference on Saturday.

Foton, which also builds Auman-branded trucks with Daimler, plans to invest 18 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) on research, supply chain and manufacutring facilities for the new energy commercial vehicle project, it said in a statement to Reuters.

In April, Toyota Motor Corp said it would supply fuel cell vehicle parts to Foton in a push to promote the fuel cell vehicle industry in China.

A growing number of automakers operating in China, the world's biggest vehicle market, are investing in electric vans and trucks. They are convinced by increasingly stringent restrictions aimed at reining in pollution, and robust demand for light-duty trucks as e-commerce flourishes, Reuters reported last year.