Evergrande to switch focus to electric vehicles unit

Embattled Chinese real estate firm Evergrande indicated on Monday that it will focus on its growing electric vehicles unit moving forward rather than its troubled core property business.

Evergrande, which was in roughly $305.0bn of debt, only narrowly managed to avoid a very costly default earlier in October after pooling together the cash to cover an $83.5m bond interest payment at the eleventh hour.

Chairman Xu Jiayin said the company will now make its China Evergrande New Vehicle Energy Group venture, which hasn't displayed any of its planned models or sold a single car since being founded in 2019, its main business.

According to Chinese state media outfit Hui Ka Yan, electric vehicles will likely overtake Evergrande's previous property focus within the next ten years.

Elsewhere, Evergrande revealed on Sunday that it had restarted construction on 10 projects across six Chinese cities after several jobs had been halted due to its inability to make payments to suppliers and contractors.