- Title: Billionaire Slim eyeing electric taxi to reduce pollution in Mexico City
- Date: 26th May 2017
- Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MAY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) LOGO FOR JAC MOTORS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF GIANT MOTORS LATIN AMERICA, ELIAS MASSRI, DURING REUTERS INTERVIEW MASSRI SPEAKING DURING INTERVIEW GENERAL VIEW OF INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF GIANT MOTORS LATIN AMERICA, ELIAS MASSRI, SAYING: "We are developing the prototypes that we hope to have finished this year and together with Moldex, Tec de Monterrey and JAC Motors to have a viable solution for an electric vehicle which takes away vehicles running on petrol. Today, we see the electric vehicle industry does not substitute but rather adds to the fleet with luxury vehicles. So, the owner has its petrol-powered vehicle and also an electric-powered vehicle." MASSRI SPEAKING TO REUTERS JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF GIANT MOTORS LATIN AMERICA, ELIAS MASSRI, SAYING: "Taxis in Mexico have a very strange position because half of the time it (taxi vehicle) is empty. In Mexico you look for a passenger and this means that its use is longer and the batteries are more expensive and so the car costs more. At the same time they can't make ends meet and that is why taxis don't use electric vehicles." JOURNALIST LISTENING TO MASSRI DURING INTERVIEW
- Embargoed: 9th June 2017 02:10
- Keywords: electric taxi Carlos Slim car production Inbursa pollution JAC Motors Mexico Mexico City China Giant Motors cars
- Location: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA0026IC8HTV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Giant Motors, an automaker partially owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, is working on a prototype electric taxi to replace the gas-guzzling cabs polluting Mexico City's air, a company executive said.
Giant has partnered with electric vehicle maker Moldex, a unit of Mexican breadmaker Grupo Bimbo, and four Mexican universities to produce the environmentally friendly car that will eventually replace part of Mexico City's more than 130,000 registered cabs, said Elias Massri, chief executive of Giant Motors Latinoamerica.
A thick haze periodically descends on Mexico City, the Western Hemisphere's largest megalopolis, irritating eyes and throats and prompting authorities to issue health warnings and force cars off the streets.
Air quality in Mexico City, home to an estimated 5.4 million vehicles, has been particularly poor in recent weeks.
Over the last few years Giant Motors and Moldex have developed and sold 500 light-weight, electric cargo trucks capable of handling up to a one tonne load. Massri said the experience has given them a platform for the taxi project.
Slim's Grupo Financiero Inbursa has a 50 percent stake in Giant Motors.
In February, Giant Motors and China's Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co Ltd, JAC Motors, said they would invest some $210 million to build SUVs at a plant in the central state of Hidalgo.
Giant Motors and JAC aim to be producing some 10,000 vehicles per year at the Hidalgo plant within four years. Passenger cars will account for 70 percent of total output and the remainder will be commercial trucks.
Initially, the Giant Motors-JAC Motors joint venture will focus on selling to Mexico's growing domestic market, with an eye to expanding into other Latin American nations. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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