TOKYO
Honda Motor Co. said on Wednesday that its Chinese unit will start a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. at the end of the month to buy batteries for fully electric vehicles.
In a statement, the automaker said that its Chinese branch had also agreed to strengthen its partnership with CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker, to ensure a steady supply of batteries.
Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda, which work together to make and sell four-wheel vehicles in China, get their batteries from CATL but not from each other.
Related: Honda is thinking about separating its supply chain from China.
The latest change, on the other hand, will allow the soon-to-be-launched joint venture to be used to centralise the buying of batteries, which will make things run more smoothly.
Dongfeng and Guangzhou will each put in 25% into the joint venture, and Honda will put in 50%.
The Japanese automaker announced on Tuesday that it was working with the trading company Hanwa Co. to make sure it had a steady supply of metals used to make batteries for electric cars.