Electric cars charge at a public charging station in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province in January. Photo: CFP

 Harmony Futeng, the electric car maker formed by Internet giant Tencent Holdings, Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co and luxury car dealer China Harmony Auto Holding, may headquarter in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, a report said Tuesday.

The reason is that major shareholders already have a strong foothold in Shenzhen, finance newspaper 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing a source close to the firm.

Tencent itself is headquartered in the city and Hon Hai has production facilities there.

Harmony Futeng, formed in July 2015, has received a lot of media attention recently after some top talent in the auto industry announced they were joining the firm. Carsten Breitfeld, former BMW i8 project manager, was hired as the CEO of Harmony Futeng and Daniel Kirchert, former China head of premium brand Infiniti, was hired as the chief operating officer, Harmony Futeng announced on January 27.

The company said in October 2015 that it is planning to start mass production in 2018, but the 21st Century Business Herald report said that so far its R&D unit only has around 50 members.

Zhang Zhiyong, a Beijing-based industry analyst, said that to churn out a car in three years is an "ambitious and even unrealistic" goal, given the high threshold of entry.

"But to set such an ambitious goal could gain publicity, which could help promote the brand," he told the Global Times Tuesday.

In the new firm, Hon Hai is expected to offer expertise in design and manufacturing; Tencent will add Internet features to the products and China Harmony will focus on sales and promotion, the report said.

Electric car rush

A growing number of Internet companies in China, such as streaming video company Le Holdings (Beijing) Co - better known as Letv, have shown interest in producing electric cars, encouraged by the sector's rapid growth and the government's support policies.

In January, total production of pure electric passenger vehicles surged three times to 7,952 units, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday.

In 2015, the number also surged three times to 142,800 units, according to data released by MIIT .

Letv has made some progress in making electric cars. Faraday Future, a Silicon-Valley start-up backed by Letv Chairman Jia Yueting, showcased its first electric concept car in the US in January.

But for NextEV, a start-up founded by Li Bin, chairman of New York-listed Bitauto Holdings Ltd and backed by Internet behemoths such as JD.com Inc founder Liu Qiangdong and Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi Technology, progress has been slow.

The MIIT may release the first batch of licenses for qualified new-energy vehicle makers in March, recent media reports said.

MIIT Minister Miao Wei told media in November 2015 that these licenses will be issued to several non-automakers.

"Securing a license will be the foremost task for firms like Harmony Futeng at present," Zhang noted.