Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp. (BAIC),which is currently operating in partnership with German car-giant Daimler AG, has unveiled a new electric car aimed at carving some of the domestic electric car market away from Chinese rivals BYD and Chery.

The BE701 is a four door sedan capable of reaching 124 miles on a single charge, with a top speed of 100 mph.

BAIC  has not yet revealed a mass-production schedule for the BE701, but has unveiled details of its new clean energy vehicle development and manufacturing facility. This new plant is being built with  a total investment of 2.28 billion yuan ($334 million) and is said to be capable of producing some 50,000 electric vehicles and 100,000 hybrid models each year!

The above photos are of both the auto-show concept-car (upon which the new car is based), and a rare photo of the production car,  proof that it's not only western designs (Say cheese,  Chevy Volt!) which receive homogenizing style make-overs between the concept stage and the factory floor.

The company has also released details of a new subsidiary, the Beijing New Energy Automotive Company, focused solely on making clean energy vehicles, which anticipates selling between 20,000 to 40,000 green models per year by 2011.  By 2015, the subsidiary is targeting annual sales of 15 billion yuan ($2.2 Bn), or between 5 and 10 percent of BAIC’s total sales.

[SOURCE:Gas2.0]