Evergrande-Hengchi plant in Nansha is in trial operation

Certain things are done a little faster elsewhere than in Germany - especially in China and especially at Evergrande Auto. The new Evergrande-Hengchi factory in Nansha (Guangzhou) is in trial operation. It has been completed in parts, and all work should be completed by the end of the year. Production will start in 2021. It can be assumed that Evergrande will stick to the schedule.

Evergrande Nansha is in trial operation
Evergrande Nansha is in trial operation

The tour of the invited media representatives through the Nansha factory is impressive. As usual in China, it is part of a production. Where yesterday there was still mud and earth, today there is a freshly paved driveway, which is embellished with the inevitable flower decorations in the country. Visible walls keep eyes away from unfinished sectors. But in the end, these are small foods, other things count.

The plant is equipped with 2.545 intelligent robots according to industry standard 4.0. Evergrande Auto buys what is good and leading worldwide. The robots are supplied by Kuka and the Japanese world market leader Fanuc, the fully automatic production line comes from Dürr. And the state-of-the-art monoblock servo presses with MMS systems are controlled by equipment suppliers Student at.

Evergrande's earnings collapse

The investments are substantial and the Evergrande Group will need staying power over the next few years. But the pandemic is also leaving its mark on the Group's books. The company warns that earnings could collapse by as much as 46% year-on-year. The reasons are also, but not exclusively, the ongoing high level of investment in the automotive industry. In order to strengthen liquidity, the Evergrande Group is taking a number of measures and adjusting the portfolio. Properties that have been leased from companies are being sold. The role as lessor is no longer part of the core business.

The highly profitable Property Management will be partially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Evergrande expects sales of around 2 billion US dollars. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to keep up the pace of investment. If it succeeds, then in the end there will be a challenger for the established providers. One that will be able to flood the market with electric cars at a low cost.

Fully automated production according to industry standard 4.0

Evergrande is investing in a fully automated car factory in Nansha, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and can deliver consistent quality. High production efficiency at low costs should guarantee global competitiveness. If the Nansha factory is fully expanded, one vehicle per minute could theoretically roll off the production line.

The trial run is currently running in some sections. New cars are produced, but it is expressly not intended to be Hengchi 1. The vehicles were heavily camouflaged at the time of the press conference, but the bodyshell and a look at the headlights suggest that this could be an offshoot of the earlier Saab 9-3. It was announced by him that it would only be produced in China for internal purposes.

The camouflage is understandable. What Evergrande doesn't want is the headline that vehicles are being produced on a 2-decade-old basis. So the last lap that the earlier Saab 9-3 turns will be the test run in Nansha.

Evergrande sets standards

The Evergrande Auto Plant in Nansha is approaching completion in great strides and is setting high standards. In Sweden, the takeover of NEVS should be completed in September. After a look at the Chinese factory, the legitimate question arises as to what could happen in Trollhättan.

The status is clear. The former Saab factory is not ready for production and in no way meets industry standard 4.0. A larger investment would be the logical consequence. Because the plant, as a strategic bridgehead in the EU, will be important for the future of Evergrande Auto.

Photos: Evergrande Auto 7/7

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Volvoab Driver
Volvoab Driver
3 years earlier

Tianjin & Shanghai

@ Tom ,,

Shanghai is probably the NEVS factory that was reported here 2 years ago?

NEVS and Tianjin reported about 3 years ago. That makes 3 factories, right?

Do you know what overall capacity Evergrande has right from the start? Probably dizzying?

Damn exciting, the whole number - and so far without any cars. It's more like watching a game of chess or unlimited poker with an uncertain outcome ...

Black Swede
Black Swede
3 years earlier

: Im Prinzip richtig formuliert – aber die Fehler machen wir hier in Europa. Sono Motors ist ein Projekt im Kriechgang. Gibt es verwertbare Neuigkeiten oder geht alles quälend langsam? So langsam, das Tom und der Blog es vom Schirm genommen haben? Und da gehört bei Tom`s Durchhaltevermögen schon was dazu.
We see the opposite in China: Evergrande ignites the turbo (sorry for this comparison). Money flows seemingly without limits while in Germany you skimp on a few million. It's about billions.

So we don't have to be surprised if in 5 or 6 years the Chinese will pull the electricity out of the socket. There is still time to take countermeasures.

By the way, my sympathies are more with the Munich snail company, which is not moving, than with Evergrande. But sympathy alone doesn't help either.

Capri 73
Capri 73
3 years earlier

I do not think that Evergrande will establish itself with electric cars in Europe!
See Borgward, they supposedly also had a lot of money and now they are facing the end!
What about service, etc.!

Volvoab Driver
Volvoab Driver
3 years earlier

The solution …

... the EV in the style of Hengchi 1 to 6 or Tesla's certainly not. That almost goes without saying.

Environmentally conscious people can only be amazed at how the automotive industry in all corners of the world is tackling the issue. The German upper class goes the same way.
Driving performance, vehicle size and even the range - if you build EVs without considering the use of resources and the size of your CO2 backpack, you can certainly create superior, fascinating vehicles ...

Weighing 3 tons and still 500, 800 or even 1.000 km range, anyway or precisely because of this (because of the unreasonably high effort) from 3 to 0 in 100 seconds. That's pretty crazy.

When it comes to environmental protection, Andersen comes to mind. The Emperor's New Clothes. Just stupid that I belong to the mob.
I don't see a cloak, coat, shirt, or even a fig leaf. I only see the bare fact that not a single large corporation is interested in environmental protection.

The Club of Rome was founded 52 years ago. A quarter of a century ago (1995) the book “The Factor Four” appeared from this group.

The title sums up the current state of knowledge that mankind had to halve the use of energy and resources, but at the same time half of mankind had to be raised to a higher standard of living. Ergo, they discussed how the western standard of living of the 1990s could be realized globally with a quarter of the resources used there per capita.

Many ideas are still valid today. For example, it is silly that a refrigerator heats up a house in midsummer and then an air conditioner works against it. If the heat exchanger were encapsulated, it would make sense to connect the warm air from a refrigerator to the ventilation system of low-energy houses. In summer the heat would be dissipated outside, in winter the supply air of the house would be switched on as “heating”.

Networking is a big issue. But unfortunately not in the physically and energetically relevant, in an analogous sense.
In 2020 I can buy a refrigerator that sends me a message on my cell phone that I no longer have sushi. Or no parmesan.
But I can't buy a refrigerator that I could sell in the middle of summer to direct its waste heat outside please. WOW ...

Ulrich
Ulrich
3 years earlier

if that doesn't even ruin the entire European, American and Far Eastern automobile industries and destroy them in terms of costs, my name is Hans. Evergrande probably only buys once, which is very good and leading in terms of the world market, afterwards the suppliers can press their noses against the wall, because that will be further developed in China itself. So the whole thing is a no-go game, where we give the Chinese the best cards for free, as with everything else. That's why they are now building the Silk Road so that a vehicle can roll into Europe every minute at prices where we can't say no. And the Europeans are clever enough to choose their own executioners. This also puts Sono Motors' electric car project at risk. Sorry, that sounds really negative, but I mean, unfortunately, very realistic. Of course, as Saab drivers, we have a special relationship with these people, as they took over the plant in Trollhättan, but unlike Volvo, they are only sentimental and mourn a beautiful past. I think we just have to be aware of the economic danger that is emanating from China now and especially in the future, and that is going to emanate even more, which wants to become the absolute dominant leader worldwide.

EF-calibrated
EF-calibrated
3 years earlier

It is nice “scary” (in a positive sense) what investments are made here and in what period! I think - we Europeans and especially we Germans can only take our hat off to the Chinese in awe. And no - I'm not talking about BER now ...
Of course you don't always want to look exactly behind the scenes (losses, setbacks, occupational safety, etc.) - in the end, as always, only the result counts here ...
I'm really excited to see where the journey - also financially - is going at Evergrande Auto !?
And what really comes out of the factory gates in the end?

Only as far as Trollhatten is concerned - I think - will no longer play a major role in the long run - at least not as a production site.
Costs and benefits are also right at the top of the agenda for the Chinese.

I would of course wish the people in the region in and around Trollhättan ...

The matter remains exciting - THANK YOU Tom !!!

Franc troll
Franc troll
3 years earlier

@ Aero-9-3 This will not solve our problems at all. A reduction in entitlement and a radical change in lifestyle would help. But that won't work either, even in times of pandemics we are not capable of it.

Aero-9-3
Aero-9-3
3 years earlier

Thank you for this admittedly impressive appearance. The first financial bottlenecks leave room for speculation. I just wait. But I am already wondering, like the Volvaab Driver, who should deliver the data for the robots so quickly ...
And apart from the gigantic Chinese dimension, I naturally ask myself whether this is really the solution to the mobility problem in the future when the vehicles roll off the production line every minute, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year ... The individual mobility market is equipped with vehicles.
I am excited to see what the future will bring.

Volvoab Driver
Volvoab Driver
3 years earlier

"If it succeeds, then (...)"

As always, this article is thoroughly, factually & critically researched and written.

This is how information is fun.

Do not take sides too quickly, do not hesitate and do not cheer anything too quickly. Perfect.

As a reader, I allow myself a little more subjectivity. This is how comments are fun. I read out the first financial bottlenecks. And also that the Hengchis are behind schedule.

A test run in the youngest and only functioning plant with the 9-3 (before the takeover of NEVS is fully completed and after 6 modern cars have been celebrated as “world premieres and presentations”), raises the question of how far Hengchi 1 bis 6 really are now? ? ?

According to my reading, Evergrande has involuntarily admitted that he is still a long way from feeding his industrial robots the parts and data for some Hengchi ...

We will see how quickly they can do that and whether the financing works.

In the meantime, many thanks for the information and the status quo to the highly valued Saab blog! ! !

Freising86
Freising86
3 years earlier

Impressive, a completely different order of magnitude than with NEVS. Real investments are made and only state-of-the-art equipment is bought. If the products are similar, then it will be exciting.