Evergrande Auto, the car-making arm of China's biggest property developer China Evergrande, announced on March 15 that it has set up a joint venture with Tencent to jointly develop a world-leading in-vehicle intelligent operating system.

Evergrande Auto will hold a 60% stake in the joint venture and Phoenix Auto Intelligence, a subsidiary of Tencent, will hold a 40% stake.

The two parties will leverage their respective advantages in the fields of new energy vehicle R&D and manufacturing, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and travel ecology to jointly build a global leading smart car ecosystem, Evergrande Auto said in an announcement.

Last month, Evergrande Auto unveiled three new models under the Hengchi brand – Hengchi 7, Hengchi 8, and Hengchi 9, despite none of its previous models started mass production.

The Hengchi 7 is an all-electric B-class luxury sedan, Hengchi 8 is an all-electric C-class luxury coupe, and Hengchi 9 is an all-electric B-class luxury midsize SUV.

These three models bring Evergrande's total number of electric vehicle models to nine.

The six models cover all classes from A to D and include passenger car models such as sedans, SUVs, and MPVs. Hengchi says the vehicles will be mass-produced in 2021.

Evergrande's car-making arm launches 3 new models, expanding its model lineup to 9