Panasonic Corp. and Beijing Automotive Group plan to jointly set up a company later this year to produce electric vehicle parts in China, Panasonic officials said Sunday.
President Kazuhiro Tsuga of the electronics maker visited China in May and sealed an agreement with Beijing Automotive, a major Chinese automaker, the officials said.
Panasonic, which is shutting down its production of liquid crystal display panels for televisions in Japan, envisions getting into the green car market in China, where the central government is promoting new generations of electric vehicles to fight pollution.
Beijing Automotive is expected to take a stake of about 54 percent of the new company, with the remaining roughly 46 percent to be contributed by Panasonic's unit overseeing Chinese operations, according to the officials.
A factory will be set up in Tianjin, a city in the northeast. Panasonic envisions beginning mass-production of air-conditioners for electric vehicles to be built by Beijing Automotive and other manufacturers possibly from around 2018, according to the officials.
Panasonic logged some ¥1.3 trillion worth of sales in its automotive-related business in the fiscal year which ended last March 31.
It is targeting sales of ¥2 trillion in the fiscal year ending in March 2019.