China's Letv and the luxury British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin signed an electric car joint venture MOU in Frankfurt, Germany.
With each party holdsing a 50% stake, Letv and Aston Martin will work together in manufacturing and engineering.
William Ding, co-founder of Letv's car division, revealed that apart from the substantial capital cooperation, the two parties will also enhance their cooperation in technology, engineering, and service sectors.
Aston Martin will be responsible for providing the vehicle technology for RapideE; while Letv will be in charge of the powertrain and Internet of Vehicles technologies. Meanwhile, relying on its resources in communication and marketing, Letv will help Aston Martin enhance sales. RapideE's volume production edition is expected to be available in the market before the end of 2018.
Prior to this, Letv and Aston Martin established a cooperation partnership in April 2015. Eight months later, the two parties signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding. On January 6, 2016, Letv and Aston Martin released their cooperating result at CES: the RapideS with Letv's Internet of Vehicles system.