Chongqing-based Changan Automobile, in partnership with Huawei and CATL, will launch its premium new energy brand as soon as this month, yicai.com reported Wednesday.

The brand will have an intelligent electric connected vehicle platform, a range of smart car products and a smart life and smart energy ecosystem, according to previous media reports.

Changan New Energy and the new brand are two separate companies that provide products and services to customers in different market segments, said Tan Benhong, executive vice president of Changan, as quoted by yicai.com.

Changan New Energy is the new energy business operator of the Changan brand, while the new brand is a high-end smart electric vehicle brand jointly created by bringing together the resources of Changan, Huawei and CATL.

The brand will be developed independently, marketed independently, and integrated with strategic partners' resources, with plans for an independent listing, Tan said.

On Nov. 14 last year, Changan Chairman Zhu Huarong said the company was working with Huawei and CATL to create a new high-end smart car brand.

"We are responding to the development of the times and the needs of users, and are joining hands with top technology companies Huawei and CATL to create a high-end smart car brand and high-tech high-end products," Zhu told CCTV at the time, adding that the will be unveiled soon.

Among the 105 products Changan plans to release in the next five years are 23 new energy products, the CCTV report said, adding that Changan expects to have a 5,000-strong software development team by 2025.

In Monday's report, Reuters cited people familiar with the matter as saying Changan Automobile plans to list its electric vehicle unit on China's Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board, also known as the STAR market, in a bid to to finance its rapid expansion.

Changan, which has a 48.95 percent stake in the unit, aims to sell 500,000 electric vehicles a year by 2025 and 1 million by 2030, the report said.

The unit plans to sell 70,000 electric vehicles this year and hopes the business will be profitable by 2024, the report said, adding that Changan has not set a timetable for the uint to go public on the STAR market.

Changan reportedly plans to list EV unit on A-share market

(Source: Changan)