Evergrande to invest 45 billion yuan in new energy vehicles

Evergrande held a new energy vehicle global strategic partner summit in Guangzhou. Xu Jiayin, chairman of the board of directors of Evergrande Group, revealed on the spot that Evergrande will invest 45 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) in new energy vehicles in the next three years, and will build ten production bases in China, Sweden and countries along the "Belt and Road" to create high-end smart factories.

Xu Jiayin revealed that the 45 billion yuan will be invested in three years, including 20 billion yuan in 2019, 15 billion yuan in 2020, and 10 billion yuan in 2021. "Evergrande has nothing in car manufacturing. If it wants to overtake others, what should it do? Buy, buy, buy. Buy all the core technologies and companies it can buy."

It is understood that as early as 2018, Evergrande had acquired core technologies and intellectual property rights in the fields of batteries, motors, powertrains, 3.0 chassis architecture, and advanced vehicle manufacturing through a series of international mergers and acquisitions and strategic cooperation in the field of new energy vehicles.

It is reported that Evergrande will simultaneously develop 15 new models, covering the full range of products including top-level, super luxury, luxury, premium, comfortable, and classic models. The first model, "Hengchi 1", will be officially unveiled in the first half of 2020, and the full range of products will be put into full mass production from 2021.

At the summit, Evergrande also signed strategic cooperation agreements with the world's top 60 leading auto parts companies.

Regarding the reasons why Evergrande entered the new energy field, Xu Jiayin gave three reasons: first, new energy vehicles are an industry that protects the environment and benefits mankind; second, new energy vehicles have a huge global market and broad prospects; third, the emergence and development of new energy vehicles is a revolution in the history of world automobiles and hides huge opportunities.

Regarding future goals, Xu Jiayin said that Evergrande will achieve annual production and sales of 5 million vehicles within 10 years and will become the world's largest and most powerful new energy vehicle group in the future. To achieve this goal, Evergrande Auto must achieve world-leading core technology, world-class product quality, and significantly reduce costs.

At present, Evergrande's goal and path to car manufacturing have been set, but Xu Jiayin also admitted that Evergrande, which is mainly engaged in real estate, is "poor and blank" in the field of car manufacturing, with no talent, no production base, and no experience. Therefore, from a strategic and tactical perspective, Evergrande must open up a new path that is different from other automobile companies, which can be called the "Evergrande car manufacturing path."

"Evergrande's road to car manufacturing is to buy, cooperate, circle, expand and improve," said Xu Jiayin. He believes that Evergrande's road to car manufacturing is not to overtake on a curve, but to overtake in a different lane, that is, to buy core technologies and related companies, and cooperate with world-leading companies to establish a world-class circle of friends in car manufacturing, form a grand strategy and pattern for car manufacturing, and ensure that the products are good in price, quality and appearance.