Asian Tech Press (Dec 3) -- Apple supplier Foxconn and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) are in talks to form a joint venture to produce BMW-based electric cars, Bloomberg reported.

Founded in 1971, the PIF is Saudi Arabia's leading sovereign wealth fund, also the world's largest sovereign wealth investment fund, with about $450 billion of assets under management.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said the Saudi PIF will create a joint venture called Velocity in the near future. And the new entity hopes to be able to assemble electric vehicles (EVs) on a chassis licensed by German automaker BMW AG and expects to sign an agreement before the end of this year. But no final decision has been made and plans are still subject to change.

Saudi Arabia's PIF is looking at BMW's old chassis because the German automaker has previously licensed older versions of its architecture platforms to a number of automotive startups. Vietnam's VinFast, for example, has used the old platforms of the third-generation BMW X3 and sixth-generation BMW 5 series to develop two hot-selling products, the LUX SA2.0 SUV and the Lux A2.0 sedan, which are very popular in Vietnam.

The main reason why Saudi Arabia is interested in Foxconn is not only because Foxconn is backed by partners such as China's largest private auto group Geely, Fisker Inc. and Stellantis N.V., which are experienced in the automotive supply chain. It is also because Foxconn unveiled three prototypes of its self-developed electric vehicles (EVs), the luxury sedan Model E, the light SUV Model C, and the electric bus Model T.

Foxconn, for its part, is expected to be a minority shareholder in this partnership, providing software, electronics and electrical architecture for the new company's electric vehicles.

Foxconn, Saudi Arabia's PIF and BMW have declined to comment on the news.