Youxia Motors (游侠汽车), an electric vehicle maker, recently announced the completion of its Series B of ¥5 billion (approx. $ 795 million). The funding round was co-invested by 12 institutional investors, including Qianhai Mergers and Acquisitions Funds, China Environmental Protection Industry Co., Ltd., China Fortune Ocean, Nantaihu Construction Investment and Huzhou Donghong.
The company, prior to this funding round, had raised a ¥1.22 billion (approx. $ 194 million) Series A in October 2017. Collectively, it has raised a total capital of ¥6.22 billion (approx. $ 989 million) to date and is now valued at ¥12.2 billion (approx. $ 1.9 billion).
Established in October 2013, the 4-year-old Youxia Motors is among the earliest new automotive companies in China. On July 26, 2015, the company unveiled its first internet-connected electric sedan, “Youxia X”. In December 2015, WEI Jun, former president of Xituo Industrial Group, a supplier of industrial electrical automation solutions, joined Youxia Motors, steering the company on the high road of mass production.
According to the team, the company has opted to set up its own factories and production lines to manufacture its electric vehicles en masse for the sake of independent brand operation. Over the last three years since the launch of its concept version, the production version of Youxia X has gone through numerous rounds of refinement and trial production runs (specifically 4 production trial runs and 90% of all mandatory tests) to finally become the prototype.
Powered by a high performance electric system, the production version of Youxia X boasts a capability to support level 2 and level 3 automated driving.
The electric vehicle Youxia X is expected to be manufactured en masse as soon as the company’s factory is completed this year. By then, the company will start shipping out its orders.
The first production base of the company was established in Zhejiang Province in April 2017, with a planned production capacity of 200,000 cars a year.
In October 2017, Youxia held its first global partnership conference, at where Youxia’s 300+ suppliers made their first public appearance. Youxia inked partnerships with the big names including Bosch and Faw Plate.
According to the team, the SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for its factories is expected to be finalized in September 2019, thus putting it in a position to compete head-on with other electric vehicle makers and traditional carmakers.