German electric car start-up e.Go Mobile eyes Mexico entry

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - German electric car start-up e.Go Mobile said on Wednesday it plans to enter the Mexico market and launch a production plant in Latin America's second-biggest economy.

e.Go will enter Mexico with "strategic and technology partner" QUESTUM, a subsidiary of Monterrey-based industrial consortium Grupo Quimmco, the company said in a statement.

e.Go is positioning itself at the lower end of the electric vehicles market, seeking to launch a series of small budget cars that would be affordable for the wider population. It also makes light electric buses and electric vans.

Ali Vezvaei, chairman of the management board at e.GO, said the QUESTUM tie-up will allow it to use the Mexican business's "long-established supply relationship with key industrial groups and fleets" in the country.

The company did not specify where it aims to build its plant. Most foreign-owned car plants in Mexico are based in the center and north of the country, close to the U.S. border.

Manuel Valdes, QUESTUM's CEO, said he sees e.GO as a new pillar to help diversify the business, helping "to further expand our business in the e-mobility and automotive sector".

(Writing by Drazen Jorgic; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)