LeEco Announces First Car Factory — The Tesla Model S Better Watch Its Back

Chinese company Le Holdings Co Ltd, better known as LeEco, has announced plans for its first ever car production facility in China.

The new facility, which is awaiting official Governmental planning permission is located in Deqing county near the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.

LeEco will invest 12 billion yuan (Rs. 120.5 Billion) in the factory which will be part of a bigger "Eco Experience Park" that will cost 20 billion yuan (Rs. 200.88 Billion) in total and will also include an entertainment park, facilities for internet-connected electric cars and offices.

The facility is expected to be the production hub for the LeSee Electric car, which was unveiled as a concept car in April at the Beijing Motor Show. The LeSee will be a rival for the Tesla Model S. LeEco claims that the production car will have fully autonomous driving capabilities, and will be able to sprint to a top speed of 229km/h. The upcoming factory will produce 2,00,000 LeSee cars in a year.

LeEco also plans to produce cars at a plant currently being built near Las Vegas, by its partner Faraday Futures and has also inked a deal to help British carmaker Aston Martin, to co-develop a 1,000bhp four-door, electric, super sedan called the RapidE.