Shanghai (ZXZC)-- On January 15, Magna celebrated the opening of a new engineering center which is part of its joint venture with Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd (BJEV). The joint venture brings together Magna's vehicle engineering know-how and BJEV's local strength to develop a next-generation smart electric vehicle architecture for the Chinese market. Executives from both companies were joined by local government officials in a ceremony held in Zhenjiang, China. 

The engineering center, operating under the name Magna Blue Sky NEV Technology (Zhenjiang) Co., Ltd, will have approximately 420 employees.  The joint venture will also be set up to offer engineering services to other potential customers. 

“We are excited to be working with BJEV to deliver advanced engineering solutions to further enable electric mobility in China,” said Karl Stracke, President Fahrzeugtechnik & Engineering Magna Steyr. “This facility marks the start of our collaboration and first project supporting both companies electrification strategy in the region.”

Zheng Gang, General Manager of BAIC BJEV said, “Collaboration is the trend of automotive industry. Being the owner of core EV technologies, BJEV has become the dominant market leader with complete product portfolio. Through the cooperation with Magna, BJEV will greatly enhance its product quality and brand to the next level.”

As part of the JV, executives from both companies also announced the groundbreaking of the new NEV test center, which will be approximately 12,000 square meters.  The test center is expected to be open by September 2019.

In June 2018, Magna and BJEV announced they would jointly engineer and build premium electric vehicles for customers in China. The new electric vehicles are scheduled to be launched in 2020.