Yang Rong also known as Yung Yeung and Benjamin Yeung is an exiled Chinese tycoon. He was born in Anhui

Anhui

Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

 province in 1957. Only a year after the magazine Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

proclaimed him China's third richest businessman in 2001, Rong fled that country for the US.

He has since started a hybrid electric vehicle

Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...

 company, HK motors.

Brilliance China Holdings

Rong, the founding chairman of China Brilliance Automotive, was involved with the company during the 1990s but lost control in 2002 due to a failed bid to locate a production base in Ningbo

Ningbo

Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...

. As Ningbo is near the rich costal city of Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, this was contrary to Chinese state

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 policy encouraging economic growth in the poorer regions, and Rong incurred the wrath of the government of Liaoning

Liaoning

' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...

 in the attempt. In 2002 he was accused of embezzlement, and an arrest warrant was issued precipitating Rong's flight from the country.

While Rong was in control, Brilliance Auto made a number of IPO

Initial public offering

An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...

s. These included listing a subsidiary on the NYSE in 1992, the same subsidiary again on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Hong Kong. It is Asia's third largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and fifth largest in the world...

 in 1999, and that same year a different subsidiary on the Shanghai Stock Exchange

Shanghai Stock Exchange

The Shanghai Stock Exchange , abbreviated as 上证所/上證所 or 上交所, is a stock exchange that is based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the two stock exchanges operating independently in the People's Republic of China, the other is the Shenzhen Stock Exchange...

.

Hybrid Kinetic Motors

After leaving China in 2002, Rong began a start-up

Startup company

A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...

 car company in the United States, Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corporation .

JAC joint venture:
As of 2010 the company will enter a possible joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 with Jianghuai Automobile

Anhui Jianghuai Automobile

JAC Motors is a Chinese state-owned automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer. The company is based in Hefei, Anhui Province, China....

 selling parts in China for use in green technology vehicles. A Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

, Shandong province

Shandong

' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

, production base will be complete by 2013, and while the original intent was to manufacture whole vehicles, this JV will only supply parts.

2009 Alabama factory plan:
As of 2009 the possibility of producing Hybrid Kinetic vehicles at an undeveloped site in Baldwin County, Alabama

Baldwin County, Alabama

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*85.7% White*9.4% Black*0.7% Native American*0.7% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.5% Two or more races*4.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

, was discussed.

External links

• Hybrid Kinect Motors Official Site