Akiz Group and ACI Motors have expressed interest in joint investment with Chinese companies Three Chinese automobile companies want to set up their factories in Bangladesh. They are also looking for local business partners to market the manufactured cars in the domestic market and export them to various countries including India.


A high-level delegation of 17 members of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress, including representatives of these Chinese companies, visited Bangladesh and expressed their interest in this investment in a meeting with the representatives of the Bangladesh-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCCI) on April 23.

Cherry Automobile Company has expressed interest in setting up its electric vehicle (EV) factory in Bangladesh, while Jianghui Automobile Co. Ltd. and Foton Motors have expressed interest in setting up truck and passenger bus manufacturing plants, the BCCCI said in a release.

Besides, another Chinese company specializing in forklift manufacturing – Heli has expressed interest in setting up a factory in this country jointly with Bangladeshi entrepreneurs.

Similarly, China's Goshan Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. has said it wants to set up a factory to research and manufacture high-tech electric vehicle batteries.

According to related sources, two Bangladeshi companies – Akiz Group and ACI Motors have already expressed interest in joint investment with Chinese companies.

The Chinese delegation arrived in Bangladesh on April 22. They left Bangladesh on Wednesday night (April 24) after discussing with the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and officials of Dhaka North City Corporation.

In an exchange meeting with the Chinese delegation, Sheikh Amin Uddin, Director of Akiz Group and Director of BCCCI, expressed interest in investing in establishing an electric car and lithium battery production plant jointly with Cherry Automobile Company.

Humayun Rashid, Managing Director of Energy Pack, held a meeting with the Chinese delegation. He told TBS that they are working with China's JAC and Heli Company to manufacture special purpose vehicles including refrigerated covered vans, covered vans and cranes used for street light maintenance. The design of these vehicles has been prepared.

Humayun Rashid also said that China's Anhui provincial government wants their companies to increase their investment in Bangladesh. For this reason, the officials of various Chinese automobile companies visited Bangladesh with the delegation.

"With the Chinese company, we will add electric buses and electric trucks. We have already invested 150 crore rupees. There are plans to invest another 500 crore rupees," he said.

In addition, ACI Motors chief executive F. H. Ansari has reportedly expressed interest in jointly investing with Chinese companies in the manufacturing and assembly sector of passenger buses and other vehicles in Bangladesh.

FH Ansari told TBS that there was a fruitful discussion with the Chinese delegation.

"We will jointly do Photon pre-manufacturing with Chinese companies. Also, a Chinese company is interested in manufacturing lithium batteries, ACI Motors will also jointly manufacture lithium batteries with them."

He also said, "We are also interested in jointly manufacturing passenger buses with Chery Automobile Company."

BCCCI Secretary General Al Mamun Mridha told TBS that Chinese companies came to seek business partners to invest in Bangladesh to expand their business. "Akiz Group, ACI Motors, including the officials of various industrial companies of Bangladesh were present in the meeting. They expressed their interest in investing in the automobile industry in joint ventures with Chinese companies," he said.

Agro-processing industry and renewable energy

Al Mamun Mridha said that the top official of an agricultural products processing (agro processing) company in Anhui Province was in the delegation. They are keen to invest in Bangladesh's agro-processing industry and renewable energy sector.

However, he could not give any specific information about the amount of money that Chinese companies want to invest through these joint ventures.

At present, Asian Motorspecs Limited is the sole distributor of Cherry brand gasoline cars in Bangladesh. Photon brand trucks are being added by ACI Motors and Jack (JAC) brand trucks Energy Pack in Bangladesh.

Chinese car manufacturer Chery Automobile Company Limited entered the Bangladesh market in 2022. Currently they have business in 80 countries. The number of customers is about one crore. The research and development (R&D) team of the organization is more than 5500 members. There are independent centers for this in China, Germany, USA and Brazil.

China expressed interest in setting up an electric vehicle assembly plant in Bangladesh last year. In August, China's ambassador to Dhaka, Yao Wen, said Chinese investors would gain access to a potential market if they set up electric vehicle assembly plants in Bangladesh.

The government also aims to have at least 15 percent of registered vehicles in the country be electric vehicles by 2030.

South Korean automobile makers Hyundai and Malaysia's Proton have invested in Bangladesh, along with local companies such as Runner Group and Bangladesh Auto Industries Limited (Bail). At least six other manufacturers are in the pipeline to invest in four-wheeler production, including South Korea's Kia.

Wei Xiaoming, Vice Chairman of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress, led the Chinese delegation at the meeting. Song Yang, Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh was also present in the meeting.

Representatives are looking at opportunities and possibilities

In the BCCCI meeting, Wei Xiaoming said that there is a trade of 319 million dollars between Bangladesh and Anhui province in 2023. Bangladesh has a lot of opportunities and potential for investment. They are keen to increase investment to exploit this potential.

While most of the delegation were representatives of China's Anhui Provincial Government – they were also accompanied by representatives of automobile companies.

Other members of the delegation included – Yang Anguyo, General Manager of Forklift Group; Heli Industrial Vehicle Import & Export Co. Ltd. Deputy General Manager Li Mingjun, Jianghui Automobile Group Company DGM Yin Jingke and Jianghui Automobile Group and Jack International Deputy Secretary Huang Fude.