MIAMI, United States. — The Cuban regime plans to “improve the automotive fleet” with the manufacture of Chinese electric vehicles on the island, the news agency reported. xinhua.
According to this medium, the Cuban company Minerva and the Chinese company Tianjin Dongxing Grupo Industrial y Comercial are promoting a joint project called Vehiculos Eléctricos del Caribe, VEDCA, through which an assembly plant located west of Havana was installed.
The information specifies that from March 2019 to date, 2,500 motorcycles, 1,500 tricycles and 1,000 children’s cars have been produced there, all vehicles powered by electric batteries and that reported sales of about six million dollars. The assembly plant has an area of about 9,000 square meters and houses about 60 workers.
xinhua points out that VEDCA is the first joint venture of this type between China and Cuba and was formed from the Chinese contribution of technology and equipment, which represented 58 percent of the total investment, while the Cuban partner contributed the remaining percentage to the offer the facility and remodel it.
“The current situation in Cuba, where cars are old and spare parts are hard to buy, made us think about replacing them with electric vehicles to solve pollution and maintenance problems,” he told the Chinese news agency Wei Yunpu. , Chairman of the Tianjin Dongxing Industrial and Commercial Group.
The Chinese executive explained that his company’s link with Cuba dates back more than two decades and that productions have been increasing based on the Cubans’ own demand.
“This project first satisfies the demand of ordinary people for transportation and business needs, and creates jobs in the country with economic effects for the whole society,” said the businessman.
Cuba is one of the Latin American countries with the least advances in automotive matters. Vehicles still circulate on the island’s streets —the majority of American and Soviet brands— several decades old that lack the necessary conditions to continue circulating.
The poor conditions of the vehicle fleet have annually caused dozens of victims due to the high number of traffic accidents linked to technical causes, a fact that has been recognized by the Cuban regime itself.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +525545038831, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
