Evergrande, Chinese property firm aiming to catch Tesla, starts electric vehicle production
- Evergrande Group launches the Nevs 93, its first-ever electric vehicle
- New venture comes amid roll back in subsidies, soft appetite among investors
The company, mainland China’s third-largest property developer by sales, said the car, being developed under its unit Evergrande Health, had gone into production in Tianjin. It did not specify how many vehicles it was making and when these would come to the market.
The June 29 launch, however, could not have come at a worse time for the new energy vehicle sector.
“It is a terrible time for any newcomer to join,” said Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight. Investors’ appetite for the sector “has cooled significantly”, he said.
Moreover, starting June 26, both central and local governments have rolled back as much as 60 per cent of the subsidies on the purchase of electric vehicles, affecting manufacturers on the basis of the driving ranges of their cars.