Jidu has already begun development on subsequent models including the second and third, which will be unveiled as early as this year's Guangzhou Auto Show, the company's CEO said.
(Image credit: Jidu)
Despite the fact that its first model has yet to be unveiled, Baidu's car-building arm Jidu Auto has already started development on more models.
Jidu has already begun development and pre-research for subsequent models including the second and third, which will be unveiled as early as this year's Guangzhou Auto Show, the company's CEO Xia Yiping said in an interview with Sina Tech today during the China EV 100 forum.
Jidu will build its own sales and service channels, with its first store planned for Shanghai, Xia said.
Jidu is an independent company, and the partnership with Baidu and Geely is all about business models, he said.
Jidu expects supply chain tensions to ease by the time its first model goes into mass production in the second half of 2023, he said.
Jidu, which was officially launched on March 2, 2021, will build models based on Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform and Baidu's (NASDAQ: BIDU, HKG: 9888) technology in autonomous driving. It received over $300 million in start-up funding at its inception.
At the end of January, Jidu announced the completion of nearly $400 million in Series A funding from Baidu and Geely.
On March 2, Jidu said it will hold its first Jidu ROBODay event on April 18, when it will officially unveil its robot car concept.
Jidu to unveil its robot car concept on April 18, three days ahead of Beijing Auto Show
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