(Yicai) April 29 -- SAIC Motor inked contracts with the Lingang New Area in Shanghai’s free trade zone today to build an electric car plant and a battery factory as the Chinese carmaker and tech giant press ahead with their joint Shangjie project, which will produce a new line of new energy vehicles and the batteries that power them.

SAIC penned an investment agreement with the management committee of the Lingang New Area to build the ‘Shangjie High-end Intelligent New Energy Vehicle Production Base,’ according to media reports from the project signing ceremony held today.

At the same time, SAIC CATL, a joint venture between SAIC and battery giant CATL in which SAIC holds a 51 percent stake and Ningde-based CATL the rest, inked an investment deal with the Lingang New Area to construct a battery system and component factory.

SAIC and Shenzhen-based Huawei unveiled their SAIC Shangjie brand on April 16. The marque will focus on mid-to-high-end smart electric cars and the first auto is expected to hit the market this fall.

SAIC is the fifth carmaker to ally with Shenzhen-based Huawei under its Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, in which Huawei provides the intelligent software and hardware to traditional automobile manufacturers, and will be deeply involved in the development of the new cars.

SAIC will put together a specialized operations and technical team of over 5,000 people for the project which will work closely with Huawei’s engineers across the entire EV development process, the Shanghai-based firm said earlier.

The first Shangjie model will be a SUV designed specifically for mainstream consumer group that will cost around CNY200,000 (USD28,000), it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor