Shanghai (ZXZC)- IM Motors, the premium electric vehicle maker jointly backed by SAIC Motor, Alibaba Group, and Zhangjiang High-Tech, recently obtained a loan worth 5 billion yuan ($723.066 million) by signing an agreement with a group of financial institutions, the automaker said on Feb. 24 via its WeChat account.

The group of lenders includes SAIC Finance, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, Bank of Shanghai, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

IM Motors said the syndicated loan and shareholder support will provide a solid endorsement for its continuous innovation in user values, reflecting the financial institutions' confidence in IM Motors' push into the intelligent electric vehicle market.

The latest move came after IM Motors closed its Series A equity financing in last Aug., which was led by BOCOM Capital Management Co., Ltd. and followed by its existing shareholder, SAIC Motor.

IM LS7; photo credit: IM Motors

IM Motors put its second production model and also the first SUV model, the IM LS7, onto the market on Feb. 10 this year. Regarding auto intelligence, the IM LS7 is equipped with NVIDIA’s OrinX intelligent driving chip, two LiDAR units, Qualcomm’s 8155 SoC, the AMOLED 2K interactive screen, etc.

IM Motors added it expects the number of its brand experience and delivery centers to jump to 220 by the end of 2023, covering over 60 first- and second-tiers cities in China.