Evergrande NEV president Liu Yongzhuo has been taken into criminal detention on suspicion of violating the law, an announcement said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group's (Evergrande NEV) president has been detained, marking the latest setback for the electric vehicle (EV) unit of China's Evergrande Group.

Evergrande NEV has learned that its executive director, Liu Yongzhuo, has been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of violating the law, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange announcement today.

The company has applied to the Stock Exchange for resumption of trading in its shares from 1 pm on January 8. Trading in Evergrande NEV was suspended in Hong Kong this morning.

Evergrande NEV's announcement did not mention further details.

Liu joined Evergrande Group in 2003 and has been president of Evergrande NEV -- founded in 2019 -- since 2020.

Evergrande NEV launched its EV brand, Hengchi, on August 28, 2019, and unveiled its first six vehicles in August 2020, covering all classes from A to D.

On February 10, 2021, the company unveiled an additional three models and presented all nine models two months later at the Shanghai auto show.

Evergrande NEV's first production vehicle, the Hengchi 5, was mass-produced in September 2022 at the Tianjin plant and deliveries started in October 2022.

On July 26, Evergrande NEV said in a Hong Kong stock exchange announcement that it had a loss of RMB 27.7 billion ($3.8 billion) in 2022, albeit narrowed by 51 percent from RMB 56.3 billion in 2021.

As of December 31, 2022, Evergrande NEV's cumulative loss and shareholders' loss were RMB 98.9 billion and RMB 68.7 billion, respectively.

On August 14, Evergrande NEV announced that it received a strategic investment of about $500 million from Dubai, UAE-based NWTN Inc (Nadaq: NWTN).

NWTN is a green energy company dedicated to providing high-end EV products and green energy solutions, according to its statement.

Evergrande NEV's new models, the Hengchi 6 and Hengchi 7, had completed a design freeze and undergone extensive test validation, including winter calibration and summer calibration, and were pushing ahead with research and development as well as mass production, Evergrande NEV said in an August 14 statement.

Evergrande NEV's automobile manufacturing base in Tianjin has an annual planning capacity of 50,000 units, and it has automobile parts manufacturing bases in Shanghai and Guangzhou with annual planning capacities of 100,000 and 200,000 units respectively, according to the statement.

However, on January 1, Evergrande NEV said that NWTN's share subscription agreement became invalid on December 31.

Evergrande NEV, mired in losses, announces $500 million investment from Middle Eastern investor