BEIJING – China Evergrande Group’s electric vehicles (EV) unit Evergrande NEV is seeking Chinese regulatory approval to sell its inaugural Hengchi 5 sport-utility vehicles, as the embattled company vows to start making cars early next year.
In September the unit warned in stock exchange filings that it was still looking for new investors and to make asset sales, and that without either it may struggle to pay employee salaries and cover other expenses. It also scrapped plans to list shares in mainland China.
Despite facing a struggle to secure external investment, Evergrande NEV is still preparing its car production facilities in China’s coastal Tianjin city for the Hengchi 5 model, the first it will produce, and aims to start manufacturing early in 2022.
Some Hengchi 5 vehicles were seen driving inside the factory last month, according to a Reuters witness who visited the plant.
(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jan Harvey)
