(Yicai Global) Nov. 26 -- China’s top economic planner has ordered an investigation into the investment plans of electric carmakers so as to avoid excess capacity in the industry, with property giant China Evergrande Group’s auto-making unit coming in for special scrutiny, Yicai Global's Chinese-language sister publication Yicai learned from insiders.

Shares of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group [HKG: 0708], which have almost tripled in value this year, plunged as much as 11 percent today before closing 5.2 percent lower at HKD22.80 (USD2.94) apiece.

Evergrande NEV and privately held Baoneng Motor are two automakers that must report their detailed investment plans by Nov. 18, the insiders at a car company said, after the National Development and Reform Commission ordered local governments to look into the pair’s NEV projects.

Stocks of electric vehicle makers fell across the board following the report, dragging benchmark indexes in the Chinese mainland lower, though Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.3 percent up.

Evergrande NEV aims to leapfrog Tesla to become the world's largest and most powerful player in the NEV market within three to five years, Evergrande Group founder Xu Jiayin said last year.

Evergrande entered the sector in 2018 when it injected assets into Evergrande Health Industry Group, which changed its name to Evergrande NEV in July and unveiled six models in August. Earlier this month, it started trial output at assembly plants in Shanghai and Guangzhou in preparation for mass production next year.

The company will build 10 plants and ancillary core technology-based parts lines in China, Sweden and developing countries, per its plan. The first phase of each production facility is designed to turn out 100,000 vehicles a year and will raise output to 1 million units in two to three years, and 5 million in 10 to 15 years.

Editor: Emmi Laine