Haima Automobile confirms India entry

EXCLUSIVE!

Late in November 2019, we told you that Great Wall Motors will be joined by another Chinese carmaker at Auto Expo 2020 – Haima Automobile. Today, we have official confirmation from Haima about its plans for an India entry.

Speaking to Autocar India, a company spokesperson said, “It is certain that Haima Automobile Group, a three-decade-old pioneer passenger car manufacturer from China, is all set to make its foray into the Indian automotive sector.”

Haima is in the process of firming up its plans for the Indian market, and is currently in talks with the central and state governments.

“Currently, we are conducting in-depth market surveys of Indian markets, and are concurrently in discussions with central, state governments, and OEM component manufacturers, planning our India-specific strategy and market entry,” the spokesperson added.

What’s interesting is that Haima has teamed up with Bird Electric – a subsidiary of Bird Group – for its India operations. Bird Automotive is a dealer of BMW and Mini vehicles in India and is also a distributor of Segway personal transporters. 

While Haima has refrained from sharing any details of the models under consideration for India at this time, its association with the EV vertical of the Bird Group is a clear indication that the company is planning to showcase electrified vehicles at its Auto Expo 2020 public debut.

In China, Haima has already showcased a range of all-electric vehicles, including the Aishang 360 hatchback, E3 midsize sedan, E5 SUV and E7 MPV.

For the uninitiated, Haima Automobile – founded in 1988 – is based out of Haikou City in the Hainan Province in China. 'Haima' is a portmanteau, created by blending the names of the Hainan province and Japanese carmaker Mazda. Haima Automobile originally sold rebadged Mazda models in China, and the company was eventually taken over by Chinese state-owned First Automobile Works, now known as the FAW Group.

Up until a few years ago, most models sold by the company were based on ageing Mazda platforms, but the Chinese carmaker is now developing its own range of SUVs, MPVs and electrified vehicles, based on the Haima Global Architecture (HMGA) platform.