Baidu’s electric vehicle company Jidu hires former Cadillac designer

BEIJING, June 28 (Reuters) – Jidu Auto, a smart electric vehicle company between Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc (9888.HK) and Chinese automaker Geely (GEELY.UL), announced it has hired Frank Wu, former Cadillac, to run his design studio.

Jidu chief executive Xia Yiping told Reuters in April that the new company, founded in January, aims to invest 50 billion yuan ($ 7.7 billion) in the production of smart cars during over the next five years. Read more

Wu previously worked for the premium Cadillac brand of General Motors Co (GM.N) in Warren, Michigan, and ran the Beijing brand design studio of Chinese automaker BAIC (1958.HK) in Beijing.

Baidu’s electric vehicle manufacturing plan comes as tech companies around the world rush to develop smart cars after Tesla’s (TSLA.O) success in bringing electric vehicles to market. The collaboration is based on Geely’s platform focused on electric vehicles, Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA). Baidu currently owns 55% of Jidu and Geely owns 45%.

Reuters previously announced Jidu’s hiring, citing people familiar with the matter.

Jidu, based in Shanghai and Beijing, also plans to roll out its automotive brand in the third quarter of 2021.

Reporting by Yingzhi Yang, Yilei Sun and Tony Munroe, editing by Louise Heavens

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.