Markets
28/11/2016

Selling its Technology to Rivals is a way 'Japan's Tesla' GLM stays Competitive




The secret of Japanese electric car maker GLM’s competitiveness is out. This automaker, also dubbed as ‘Japan’s Tesla’ by some sells the technology platform to rivals in addition to selling its own flashy sports cars.
 
This revelation was made by the chief financial officer of the company to the media.
 
Customizable and on offer, even to its toughest rivals, are technology for electric vehicle power systems, chassis and vehicle control units, all of which are developed by GLM itself - dubbed "Japan's Tesla". All these are on offer to other car makers.
 
As upstart Tesla Motors moves away from a luxury roadster offering and aims for the mid-priced mass-market price range with its Model S and X versions, leading carmakers around the world from General Motors to Toyota are eyeing the electric car market for growth and to stave off competition.
 
But with its two premium electric sports sedan models, the gull-wing door GLM-G4, and the Porsche look-alike GLM-ZZ, which have created a buzz at auto shows around the globe, the six-year old Japanese carmaker has stayed in the higher price range.
 
Its latest model, the GLM-G4, is within the price range of $200,000 to $300,000 and has a twin-motor electric powertrain with 536 horsepower and 737 pound-feet of torque. The GLM-ZZ model is priced at about $80,000.
 
The company views Hong Kong to be the gateway to the rest of China and GLM launched its brand and showcased its vehicles in the city last Friday. Limited quantities of its cars have already been sold in the U.K. and in Japan by the Kyoto-based company.
 
But the sports cars are just one-half of its business.
 
"Another pillar of our business is leveraging this technology for our own line of cars, and applying it to third-party [clients]," said Sota Nagano, chief financial officer at GLM, in a television interview.
 
While it might not be economically viable to spend billions and billions (of dollar) to compete in the same sector, Nagano said that many players want to get into the crowded space with electric vehicles paving the way as cars of the future. he said in te te;evision interview that its clients include car-sharing service providers to traditional automakers.
 
"Every one of our customer has a different agenda … and all have different packaging and requirements in mind," he said. "It does not directly compete with what we have, [instead] it puts us in a very unique position."
 
(Source:www.cnbc.com) 

Christopher J. Mitchell
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