Shanghai (ZXZC)- On Jan. 18, Dongfeng Motor broke ground on its high-end new energy off-road vehicle manufacturing base, representing another premium new energy vehicle (NEV) project following VOYAH.

Planning image of Dongfeng Motor's high-end new energy off-roader base; photo credit: Dongfeng Motor

The high-end new energy off-roader project is under the management of Dongfeng's “M” business unit set up in Jan. 2021. The automaker said the “M” arm will help Dongfeng brand to go upscale and also plug the gap in China’s high-end new energy off-road car business.

Dongfeng Motor posted job listings for the “M” unit in last June and November with plans to bring on talents in areas of intelligent control system engineering, chassis control system development, all-terrain off-roader model development, project management, sales strategy, brand promotion, and advertising design, etc.

Notably, the ground-breaking ceremony was held only 28 days after Dongfeng Motor signed an agreement with local authority of Wuhan Economic & Technological development Zone, which is hailed as “Car Valley of China”.

Covering a floorage of 96,000 square meters, the new project includes such facilities as workshops for welding, painting and assembly, car testing center, as well as tracks for off-roader experience and testing.

With a designed production capacity of 10,000 vehicles, the new base is expected to start production in 2023.

For this new project, Dongfeng Motor will specially develop an all-new electric off-roader platform dubbed “MORV”.