(Yicai Global) Oct. 25 -- Shares of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group surged after the founder of its debt-laden property developer parent said Evergrande Group aims to redirect its main focus onto the NEV sector within a decade.

Evergrande NEV [HKG: 0708] soared as much as 17 percent to HKD4.20 (50 US dollar cents) intraday. The shares are almost 90 percent down this year amid the real estate parent's debt struggles.

Evergrande's Hong Kong-listed stock price [HKG: 3333] climbed as much as 5.9 percent to HKD2.85. The company's stock price has fallen by more than four-fifths this year.

The property giant will prioritize its electric vehicle business in the future while real estate will supplement that business, Xu Jiayin said in a press release on Oct. 22.

The firm's property sales are expected to move down to CNY200 billion (USD31.3 billion) per year during the next 10 years from last year's more than CNY700 billion, the founder added.

The Shenzhen-based property giant has lately been desperately looking to offload assets to repay its mounting debts, brought on by aggressive expansion. Some fear the firm's potential default would prompt a wider fallout in global markets. But central bank Governor Yi Gang said on Oct. 17 that China can contain the spillover risks.

Evergrande needs a quick solution. The NEV unit debuted nine car models in auto shows this year. Early next year, the first model should begin mass production in Tianjin, China Securities Journal reported.

Something needs to be sold quickly. Evergrande must resume work and production, as well as restart sales and operations, to deliver high-quality housing for buyers and to repay its loans and wealth management products, said Xu.

But the era of heated real estate expansion is over. "In principle, Evergrande will not purchase land use rights for a decade and the group cannot sell its rights at low prices now," said Xu.

The firm is making progress on some projects. Construction of properties in the Pearl River Delta region is proceeding in a stable and orderly manner, the firm wrote in a WeChat post yesterday. The company had nearly 1,240 projects, including finished and unfinished buildings, on sale, as of June 30, according to its earnings report.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi