South Korean electric car battery maker, LG Chem, has inked supply deals with Audi AG, Germany’s luxury automaker, to supply batteries for Audi’s plug-in electric vehicles, a deal estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
LG Chem, the world’s largest battery maker by sales, didn’t disclose details of the deal, but said it would help Volkswagen bolster sluggish global sales of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.
LG Chem said it expected to win more such orders from Audi parent Volkswagen AG in the future.
“Volkswagen Group has a number of car models that use the same platform as the vehicles loaded with our batteries,” a company official said. “There is a possibility that there will be more large-scale orders.”
LG Chem already supplies car batteries to more than half of the global top 10 automakers, including General Motors, Renault-Nissan and Ford as well as local brands Hyundai and Kia. South Korean company aims to achieve combined sales of over 10 trillion Korean won ($9.8 billion) from large-sized batteries by 2018.
[source: Reuters]
