After Huawei and Xiaomi, Now OPPO Wants To Build A Car

OPPO, the brand that brought you the budget-conscious tech-laden smartphones now wants to build a car of its own. 

CEO, Tony Chan is believed to be driving this project but the direction that OPPO will take remains unclear. Whether to strike out on their own and build its own car like Xiaomi or Huawei's approach of building the software and playing a more supporting role for car manufacturers. 

According to Xiuxiushai news sources, initial plans are underway albeit in their early stages. An OPPO car project has yet to be formally established. 

Chen has apparently held meetings with CATL (Tesla supplier and battery manufacturer). Chen has roped in a few other top-level executives from OPPO for this project. Eric Guo, who joined OPPO from Xpeng last year is in charge of the formation of the autonomous driving team. Andy Wu, Vice President of Software and Engineering has also participated and is in charge of the hiring of top talent in the areas of autonomous driving and cockpit development.  

To further substantiate their plans, OPPO has been publishing patents related to autonomous driving - covering areas such as distance measuring hardware, cameras, and electronic equipment for car positioning - areas in which they already do have some levels of expertise in. 

OPPO is reported to have chosen Chengdu, the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan as its base of operations. Chengdu is also home to many other tech giants like Siemens, Motorola, Microsoft, Intel and IBM to name a few. It is not short of auto manufacturers either with the likes of PSA, Volvo, Volkswagen and Toyota all having a presence there. 

*Cover image credit to carnewschina.com




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