(Yicai Global) Oct. 12 -- Shares in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group surged as much as 15.6 percent today after the electric car arm of struggling real estate giant China Evergrande Group said it expects its first autos to start rolling off the production line early next year, The Paper reported yesterday, citing the company president.

Evergrande NEV’s stock price [HKG:0708] was trading up 7.41 percent today at 1:20 p.m. China time at HKD3.77 (USD0.48). Earlier in the day it had reached HKD4.06.

Manufacturing of the Hengchi 5 model will begin at the plant in Tianjin, near Beijing, which has permits from both the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Liu Yongzhuo said. No word was given about the size of the first batch. The firm is also preparing production lines in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The parent company has accelerated the disposal of overseas assets to obtain funds, the report said. Core management has also voluntarily waived their wages and operations were moved from office buildings to the factories to save money.

The Guangzhou-based firm is under great pressure to start generating an income. The huge investment that is needed to make electric cars has driven the company heavily into the red. Its deficit nearly doubled in the first half from the same period last year to CNY4.8 billion (USD745.9 million) on revenue of just CNY37 million (USD5.7 million), according to its latest earnings report.

Last month the carmaker abandoned its planned secondary listing in Shanghai, which was meant to bring in the funds needed to take its autos to market. Evergrande NEV is unable to meet its fundraising target, an analyst told Yicai Global at the time.

But the tide seems to be turning and Evergrande NEV has started recruiting. Some 19 job positions are being offered at the Tianjin plant on recruitment platform Boss Zhiping, including battery, motor and electronic control supervisor, electronic and electrical supervisor, interior engineer, standardization engineer and chassis power engineer.

Editor: Kim Taylor