Meet the Chinese Startup That Wants to Take on Ford With a Tiny Electric Truck

In the woods on the outskirts of Beijing, Wang Chao, the ambitious founder of Chinese startup Kaiyun Motors, is behind the wheel of a tiny electric-powered truck he helped design, zipping up and down bumpy terrain with a big smile on his face. The vehicle, he says, "will be as, if not more, successful" than Ford Motor Corp.'s legendary F-150 pickup. But unlike the gas guzzler, the diminutive Pickman runs on electricity.

Wang's little-known company has sold 5,000 of the battery-powered trucks across China since May and he says it has received more than 100,000 orders. With more than 200 companies racing to develop new-energy vehicles in the world's most competitive autos market, Kaiyun is one of the few companies to reach the retail stage. It plans to sell a million vehicles over the next five years.