Evergrande NEV Vows to Deliver Electric Cars Early Next Year

(Bloomberg) — China Evergrande Group’s electric-car unit pledged to deliver its first vehicle early next year, stepping up its commitment to mass production just weeks after admitting to serious cash-flow difficulties.

Liu Yongzhuo, president of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd., made the vow at a meeting at the Tianjin plant attended by executives from strategic partners including Robert Bosch GmbH and Hitachi Ltd., the company said in a statement a posted Monday to its website. The executives promised to ensure timely supplies of parts.

The local district’s top official said the region would provide help from funding to approvals and coordinating with financial institutions to ensure that the company can “achieve mass-production goals early,” according to the statement.

The electric-car company said Sept. 24 there is no guarantee it can meet its financial obligations as it continues to look for strategic investors to inject much-needed capital. The statement confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg that Evergrande NEV missed salary payments to some employees and fell behind on paying a number of suppliers for factory equipment.

Evergrande NEV’s parent is struggling to raise cash to meet its more than $300 billion in liabilities, fueling concerns it’s heading for a default that could hurt the world’s second-largest economy. The crisis has roiled global financial markets as investors weigh the potential fallout from a collapse of the distressed developer.

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