A car factory is built. Evergrande-Hengchi in Nansha.
It is fascinating to see how new car brands are born. With Evergrande-Hengchi, the readers were there right from the start. Not entirely voluntarily, perhaps, but taken away by the events surrounding the Saab heritage. It is now becoming apparent in what dimensions Evergrande is building. And at what speed.
We remember June 12, 2019.
It was only a little over a year ago. Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin is in Guangzhou. The metropolis on the Pearl River Delta has 14 million inhabitants, which is more than all of Sweden. This June 12th promulgated Jiayin construction of 3 automobile factories, a battery factory, and research and development facilities. The price tag on it: about $ 20 billion.
Guangzhou is a hotspot of the automotive industry, an automotive Silicon Valley in the Chinese way. The decision to focus there seems logical. Capacities for 800.000 vehicles per year are to be created. The question is, who will buy so many electric cars from a nonexistent brand. Because at that time you didn't even know the brand name.
A year later we see a huge work.
The brand name is now known. Hengchi is the name of the new car brand. And we see a huge auto plant growing up in Nansha, the district of Guangzhou. Via Twitter (@GregKable) came pictures of the construction progress. The 3 main parts of the new Evergrande-Hengchi plant are nearing completion. Like the new building in Songjiang (Shanghai), Nansha should also be completed by the end of 2020.
Production from 2021.
Both plants could start in 2021 with a possible starting capacity of 200.000 vehicles each. In reality, the initial quantities will be lower, the increase will be slow. Regardless of this, the capacities now being built are one. No matter which vehicles and brands are manufactured there, the investment is a declaration of war to the international vehicle industry. Evergrande, the real estate giant, could flood the market with electric cars in a few years. Accept losses for a certain period of time and thus change the entire market environment.
But there is another question before that.
Seeing the giant work in its creation is both exciting and impressive. But where's the marketable product? Hengchi 1 is now considered late. It is said to be an SUV that was drawn at RAW Design in Ängelholm. First Pictures patent applications were circulated in April. The Saab genes are hard to miss, they are similar to the 9-4x. Hengchi 1 makes a surprisingly European impression.
But apart from the pictures there was no evidence of its existence. No prototype, no teaser. Hengchi 1 is still a phantom.
Images: @GregKable via Twitter
The greater the disillusionment will be that 1. the turnover does not match, 2. nobody knows where the Chinese all want to go with their cars because there is no more space on the streets anyway ...
Think this will be a megaflop
It's good that there is the Chinese Communist Party that finances Evergrande, gives it land and certainly only has the well-being of all people on this planet in mind ...
I prefer to travel by bus and train than to cucumber with a henchi - it's not for nothing that European cars sell better in China than their own ...
Evergrande can get violent. They think very big, with small quantities they do not give up.
I entered it in a translator app, result “Heng Sechs Autos”, so probably “Hengchi Autos”
Level of knowledge (@ Tom)
Which one of you is reliably better and younger. Than it's so …
I just found the FF logo quite good and the brand name and model names better than Hengchi I.
Nevertheless, I didn't expect much from FF for people and the environment either ...
Why will all cars have to accelerate from 2,5 to 0 kilometers or 100 miles per hour in 60 seconds in the future?
Evergrande, Tesla, FF, whoever. It would be nice if at some point any company would put environmental protection above mileage.
It's sad if electromobility can only be established through performance and luxury or cheap manure (such as e-bikes and scooters).
At the top and bottom of the scale, it will apply that it used to be better. High-end cars weighed up to a ton less and bicycles used to be driven solely by muscle strength.
The upper and lower end of the scale is therefore completely uninteresting for me personally. My bikes continue to be moved exclusively muscular. And for my cars, I would say goodbye to the combustion engine not for more power but for more environmental protection.
This would require a credible overall balance. I've never seen one like this. Where are all the great cars with yesterday's (completely sufficient) mileage and tomorrow's (absolutely superior) overall balance sheet?
THESE are cars that we really need, but apparently they are not an attractive market segment?
Speaking of the market segment, the air is getting thin upwards. I am curious to see how the strategies of all the current and upcoming manufacturers work out, which are currently so stiff on premium and luxury class.
Of course, the margin per unit produced is larger. But if they all bet on it at the same time, the principle of supply and demand will apply tomorrow in a market with oversupply and foreseeable consequences ...
I wonder why you need so many works if nothing is produced yet? NEVS already has two plants in China that are currently being expanded and Evergrande is providing even more production capacity?
I don't know the Chinese tax system now, but could that be depreciation items? Or in the end even more skillfully, will the entire automotive plants be implemented by the Evergrande Real Estate Group? Then part of the subsidy associated with car production may be passed on to the real estate division.
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in a scam that should lead to jail in China too. But when you end up owning a car company and 'reorganizing' your real estate company, it looks like you've done everything right.
They probably work hand in hand. But the number is far too big, because these ideas hardly make sense.
However, Evergrande's brisk investment activity brings additional benefits. Those who invest in industrial projects accordingly, which is happening here on a large scale, are preferred when awarding coveted land for residential development.
It is exciting.
I have to admit. It's not something that moves me in a positive way, but it's still exciting ...
QUO VADIS, Evergrande, China, humanity and the world? ? ?
I recently learned by accident that Evergrande also has a 45% stake in the US automotive brand Faraday Future (FF).
They appear to have mature cars in the pipeline but not really manufacturing capacities. Could it be that FF, along with Evergrande, will go the path of Apple and Ikea?
Does that mean Design and Quality of XY Made in China?
Does the blog team know anything about the connection, possible and shared plans of FF and Evergrande?
Evergrande is no longer in FF. At least to our knowledge.
It is exciting at what speed the factory is being pounded out of the ground there. Ok, Tesla in Grünheide has similar periods. I'm looking forward to the products!
What do the Chinese characters mean on the middle building?
Well, the characters. I learned a rudimentary Swedish because of Saab. I'm giving myself the next adventure because of Evergrande. Unfortunately I cannot answer the question.