Chinese Internet Company Leshi To Expand Into Electric Cars

Electric cars are struggling to take off in China, but that doesn’t stop Chinese internet company Leshi Internet Information and Technology Co. from entering the market.

The company, which makes internet TVs and set-top video boxes, announced today that it will expand into electric cars by launching a new project called “Super Electric Eco-System,” Chairman and President Jia Yueting said in a post on his Sina Weibo microblogging account. Leshi will redefine electric cars and make products better than  those from western companies, Jia said in the post.

Luo Qimei, the company’s Los Angeles-based spokeswoman, told Forbes Leshi's cars will beat vehicles developed by the Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors . She said the company has been working on the SEE project since the beginning of this year.

“We are using our internet model to redefine the automobile industry,” she told Forbes. “Everybody admires Tesla, but our model is better.”

Luo declined to say how much the company will invest in the SEE project. She said it is a most important initiative for the company in the future.

Leshi is entering the market when the future of electric cars looks uncertain in China. Local protectionism barriers, as well as the lack of charging facilities, have deterred consumers from purchasing more green vehicles. BYD Co., the country’s leading producer of electric cars with a 37% share of the market, sold only 7,600 electric- and hybrid-vehicles in the first half of the year, a number that doesn’t signal mass consumer demand for new energy vehicles.

The Chinese government is trying to nurture the market by providing tax breaks on purchases of electric cars made by Chinese companies. It also ordered government officials to use more green vehicles as part of the drive to put 5 million such cars on the road by 2020.

Leshi says it will stand out. The company in July invested in Atieva, an U.S.-based new energy company. Luo said Leshi is now Atieva’s second largest shareholder, after the Beijing-based Beiqi Foton Motor Co.

Leshi rose 0.46 percent in Shenzhen trading today. The company surged by the 10 percent daily limit yesterday.

Jia,41, ranked No.78 on the Forbes China Rich List,with a net worth of $1.9 billion.