Internet company LeEco starts construction of car plant in Zhejiang

Jia Yueting, co-founder and head of Le Holdings Co Ltd, also known as LeEco, gestures as he unveils an all-electric battery "concept" car called LeSee during a ceremony in April in Beijing.[Photo/Agencies]

Chinese internet company LeEco launched construction of its car plant in Zhejiang province on Wednesday.

The project, which was announced in August, is designed to have an annual production capacity of 400,000 cars and will cost the company 20 billion yuan ($2.87 billion).

The first phase of the plant covers 133 hectares and will involve an investment of 11 billion yuan.

In a live broadcast of the groundbreaking ceremony, Zhang Hailiang, head of LeEco's China car unit, said the factory will produce LeSee-brand electric cars, adding that the vehicles will compete against premium car brands.

He said 90 percent of work will be finished by robots and employees will have intelligent wearable devices to ease their work.

LeEco's financial situation has come under scrutiny recently, with some suppliers demanding the dotcom company make payments for components it has bought.

LeEco boss Jia Yueting said in a letter to employees in November that the company was going too fast and would shift its focus to steady and sustainable growth.

Jia added in the letter that he has invested more than 10 billion yuan and raised $1.08 billion for its car unit.