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Weima Electric Vehicles

The WM Motors electric vehicle strategy is to build a range of affordable mass market connected EVs. WM Motors founded in 2016 and not to be confused with a USA company by the same name, is headquartered in Shanghai with its assembly plant in Oujiangkou District, Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province. The 50,000 unit plant is to start operating in 2018 and is constructed on a 165-acre site and will scale to 100,000 units in 2022. Although WM Motors, short for Weltmeister (World Champion) is German it is a 100% Chinese owned company. Weltmeister’s Chinese name, Weima, has a different meaning  – powerful horse. The Chinese start-up was founded by Geely executive in charge of Volvo in China, Freeman Shen who raised over $1 billion making it a Chinese Unicorn ( a term for start-ups with a value of over $1 billion ). WM Motors plans to bring four models to life, all based on a single platform, named PL2. No data has been released on the platform but the company aims to build an SUV with a range of 450km at a price of $30,000 (200,000 yuan). The Weima electric car strategy is labeled “128”, which is based on a core architecture, building 2 vehicle platforms and launching at least 8 EV models at a rate of more than one new model each year.


WM Motors which is sometimes named the Tesla of China has been criticized by some industry observers for copying other cars such as the Mitsubishi Outlander, in the design process, a claim the company has vehemently denied. WM Motors have various cooperation agreements for the development of its EVs. On the hardware side it has partnered with various German technology companies such as Siemens, Bosch and since August 2017 with Isdera. On the tech side, it has agreements with Chinese tech and communications companies such as Huawei and China Unicom.

Weima Concept EV Models

Weima Electric Car Strategy in the news

Week 31 2019 Weima ready for L3 self-driving in 2020

Chinese EV manufacturer Weimar Automobile announced the completion of high-speed road tests of its L3 level autonomous drive system in Chengdu. The test vehicles were Weima EX5 EV SUVs. Weima will start producing EVs with L3 self-drive from 2020. The Weima Self-drive system is called “Living Pilot.” Currently, “Living Pilot” can fulfill various L2 driver-assist task’s such as:

  • ACCA with stop-and-go function adaptive cruise,
  • ICA high-speed cruise lane central driving assistance,
  • AEB automatic emergency braking and other features.


At CES Asia in June this year, Weima also released an ADAS function called Valet Parking. The Valet Park functionality allows for remote pick-up, park, low-speed autonomous drive, charging, etc. controlled from a mobile device.

Week 17 2018 Weima showcases 4 EVs at the Beijing Auto Show

Weima brought 4 EVs to this years Beijing Auto Show. The Weima EX5, which saw the first production model last month, the EX6 Concept 6 seater SUV and two models from its design partner, Isdera, the Isdera EX5 Pro and Commendatore GT.

Week 14 2018 First Weima EX5 produced

Weima, also partly owned by Tencent, announced that the first production models of the Weima EX5 SUV rolled off its production line. The order book for the EX5 is expected to open during the Beijing Auto Show at the end of April 2018.

Week 50 2017 WM Motors unveils its EV brand Weltmeister

Last week Chinese WM Motors provided a sneak peek of its first mass-market EV to be unveiled this week. CEO of WM Motors, Freeman Shen, announced the creation of its EV specific brand Weltmeister this week through the launch of the Weima EX5 SUV. Weltmeister will produce 3 EVs from its 100,000 unit plant in Wenzhou. The EX5 will be available from the H2 2018 and cost less than 300,000 yuan (ca $45k).

Week 49 2017 WM Motors secures funding from BAIDU

China Money Network reported that Freeman Shen, the former CEO of Volvo China and CEO of WM Motors billed by US media as the Tesla Motors of China, announced this week Baidu Capital led the investment in its $150 million round capital raising.

Baidu, the Google of China and investor in NextEV, created a $3 billion investment fund to invest exclusively in the fast-growing electric vehicle market attractive at a time when the vehicle and the internet are moving closer to each other. According to Jenny Wu, managing partner of Baidu Capital “Baidu is dedicated to building a new generation artificial intelligence open platform for autonomous driving in China, while WM Motor is a leader in combining AI, hardware, software and services in China.”


WM Motors will unveil its first car affordable mass-market EV with a range of 600 kilometers priced below $30,000 on the 11th of December. Judging from the sneak peek the WM Motors EV will be loaded with tech including facial recognition.

Week 34 2017 WM Motors and German Isdera partners

WM Motors, China’s Tesla, and German sports-car design company, Isdera announced this week that it plans to partner on building EVs. WM Motors joins a list of Chinese automakers either partnering or establishing research facilities with Western companies and countries on EV development.

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