Photo/Shetuwang

June 13 (NBD) -- Chinese real estate giant Evergrande Group has inked an agreement with the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to build three bases for the production of new energy vehicles (NEVs), to deepen its deployment in the domain.

According to the agreement, Evergrande is to invest 160 billion yuan (23.1 billion U.S. dollars) to build the bases producing complete vehicles, batteries and electric motors in Guangzhou. The complete vehicle base will be capable of producing one million cars each year.

Evergrande founded a NEV company this January which was renamed Evergrande National New Energy Vehicle Group. A source with the company told National Business Daily (NBD) that the three bases in Guangzhou, upon completion, will be used by the NEV group.

The Guangzhou bases will differ from those in Tianjin in terms of strategic positioning and demand, the source said to NBD, adding that the Tianjin bases will put Evergrande's first mass-produced NEVs into production this month.

It's noticed that Evergrande has obtained many key NEV technical resources and sales channels through a series of mergers, acquisitions and investments.

For instance, Evergrande has gotten ahold of the world's state-of-the-art in-wheel electric motor technology through an acquisition deal struck by its subsidiary Evergrande Health and British Protean Holdings Corp last month. And in January, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, a subsidiary of Evergrande Health, bought a 20 percent stake in Swedish high-performance sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg and reached a deal with the latter to form a joint venture in Sweden to produce electric vehicles.

Moreover, Evergrande last September announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group Co., Ltd. to jointly develop businesses in areas such as car sales, energy, real estate and logistics.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn