Aug. 20 (NBD) -- Real estate firms have been making foray into the new-energy vehicle (NEV) industry, seeking for business diversification into this high-tech sector.

According to statistics, investment from property firms into automobile manufacturing amounted to over 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) year to date.

Last week, Evergrande FF Intelligent Automotive (China) Group was inaugurated. The startup will take full charge of NEV research and development, production and management of Faraday Future ("FF") in China.

Evergrande Health, a subsidiary of property developer China Evergrande Group, bought 45 percent of FF in June.

Other real estate companies including China Fortune Land Development (600340.SH), Country Garden Holdings Company Limited (2007.HK), Citychamp Dartong (600067.SH) and Greattown Holdings Ltd. (600094.SH) also have established presence in the automobile sector via merger and acquisition.

Real estate industry insiders analyzed that it's difficult to innovate in the property sector, whereas the automobile industry, embodying many emerging ideas like NEV, driverless vehicles and car-sharing, will be the popular investment target in years to come. For property enterprises, to gear towards manufacturing industries could, on one hand, diversify assets, and on the other hand, achieve a balanced allocation of risks, the industry insiders noted.

It's noted that large real estate enterprise like Evergrande and Country Garden prefer investing in finished automobile projects, while small and medium ones eye lithium-ion battery and other projects along the industrial chain.

Compared to vehicle manufacturing which entails huge investment, long-term planning and slow return, projects related to the automobile industry chain cost less in operation and bear less pressure in terms of risks and capital, the industry insiders explained.

Will property firms succeed in gaining a foothold in the complicated and costly automobile industry chain?

In this respect, real estate agency Centaline Group's chief analyst Zhang Dawei held that real estate enterprises' investment in NEV hasn't shifted away from the estate development, in that they are seeking for diversified development through exploring the auto industry chain and exploiting multi-purpose land.

In fact, real estate enterprises have intended to achieve diversified operation via investment not only in the automotive industry, but also in cultural, tourism, entertainment, financial, agricultural and other fields.

Yan Yuejin, research director at E-house China R&D Institute, said that from the perspective of diversified investment, the automobile domain boasts great potential in industrial upgrading and input in such sector accords with the development strategy of the country.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn