A low cost brand that has gained significant popularity in the Chinese market last year will be used by the United States based auto giant General Motors to launch a miniature electric convertible through its joint venture in the largest auto market in the world.

According to a release issued by General Motors, mass production of the convertible, which has been named the Hongguang Mini EV Cabrio, will be started by the companies by next year.

When the vehicle was unveiled at the Shanghai auto show this week and the release was issued, there were no details on the pricing and availability of the new vehicle.

The joint venture of General Motors in China is with Wuling Motors and state-owned SAIC Motor and this vehicle is the latest from the popular Hongguang Mini EV line that has been developed by the joint venture. According to the website of General Motors, its Chiense subsidiary GM China has a 44 per cent stake in the joint venture while SAIC has a 50.1 per cent take.

The joint venture had launched the initial model of the Hongguang Mini EV in July last year in the Chinese market and had a starting price of just a couple thousand US dollars. According to the company, more than 270,000 units of the vehicle were sold by the company in the market within just about 270 days.

The popularity of the model form the joint venture of General Motors in China can be gauged from the fact that in terms of the number of new energy cars sold in China last year, the Mini EV was second only to Tesla’s Model 3. And according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association, during the first quarter of the current year the sale of the vehicle pushed into first place in terms of the number of new energy cars sold.

The release from General Motors also claimed that more than 45,000 pre booking orders in just 10 days had been received from Chinese customers for another new model from Hongguang Mini EV, the Macaron.

In the first quarter of the current year, more than 780,000 vehicles were delivered to Chinese customers by General Motors and its joint ventures. And according to General Motors, the Hongguang Mini EV accounted for about 9 per cent of those deliveries.

(Adapted from TechNewsVision.com)