(Yicai Global) June 17 -- Chinese property developer Evergrande Group has made plans to spend CNY120 billion (USD17.3 billion) on a new-energy vehicle production base in Liaoning province, less than a week after striking a CNY160 billion deal to do the same in Guangdong.

The Shenzhen-based group will build the newest factory in Shenyang, state-backed news site The Paper reported yesterday. It will include facilities for research and developing, manufacturing NEVs, and making in-wheel motors and power batteries.

The hub will help Shenyang achieve its city goal of producing 1.5 million vehicles and generating CNY500 billion a year by 2023, the report added, saying electric cars will make up a fifth of the vehicle count.

Evergrande penned a similar deal with the Guangzhou municipal government on June 11, agreeing to build a manufacturing base capable of producing a million cars every year. The facility will also include a power battery plant with annual output of 50 gigawatts and a factory making electronics systems for a million vehicles each year.

Fully Charged

The two new bases are Evergrande's biggest indicator yet of it following through on a March announcement that it plans to become the world's largest NEV group within five years.

It made its first moves into the sector last year and has since been making acquisition after acquisition all along the supply chain -- including acquiring 51 percent of electric carmaker National Electric Vehicle Sweden, which owns the right to the Saab car label.

Evergrande has also picked up a majority stake in Shanghai Cenat New Energy, a battery-making joint venture by China Automotive Technology and Research Center and Japan's Enax; a 70-percent share of Dutch electronics maker e-Traction and the entirety of British in-wheel motor maker Protean Electric.

It is also the second-largest shareholder in Guanghui Group, one of China's biggest car dealers.

Editor: James Boynton