Evergrande Group, which is mired in a heavy debt load, announced Friday that five models of its car-building business Evergrande Auto - Hengchi 1, Hengchi 3, Hengchi 5, Hengchi 6 and Hengchi 7 - had completed summer testing.

The comprehensive validation of the vehicles' performance and quality in extreme heat marks a new stage in Evergrande's vehicle-building progress, the company said.

The test was conducted in Turpan, where the surface temperature was as high as 80°C, and in Qionghai, where the average relative humidity reached 90 percent, and a total of 53 vehicles of five models were tested at the same time, according to Evergrande.

The test lasted 70 days and accumulated more than 20,000 hours and 500,000 kilometers, the company said.

During this period, the vehicles' battery systems, electric drive systems, charging systems, thermal management systems and vehicle performance underwent calibration tests under high-temperature conditions and passed a high-temperature weatherproof road test certificate for ultra-long-distance driving, it said.

The vehicles also completed test programs including exposure tests and dust tests.

"The summer test is a critical point before mass production and comprehensively verifies the safety, stability, reliability and comfort of Hengchi vehicle power performance, battery performance, thermal management performance, braking performance and interior and exterior components, ensuring that each Hengchi vehicle delivered to consumers has first-class product quality," the company said.

Nine of the 14 vehicles designed by Evergrande Auto have already been announced, but none have yet begun mass production. The company aims to sell more than 1 million vehicles by 2025 and more than 5 million by 2035.

Evergrande Auto's Hengchi 7 sedan is already undergoing road tests and was photographed for the first time, yiche.com reported Wednesday.

The vehicle was on display at the Shanghai Auto Show in late April, and the vehicle undergoing road testing has some differences from the show car.

Evergrande Group is currently mired in a heavy debt burden and has chosen to sell off its assets to save itself, and its car-making business is one of them.

Evergrande Auto announced on August 10 that Evergrande Group was approaching several potential independent third-party investors to discuss the sale of some of its assets, including but not limited to Evergrande Auto and a portion of Evergrande Property Services' interests.

Evergrande Auto's Hengchi 7 sedan seen undergoing road tests

(Photo source: Evergrande Group)