The EV unit of Chinese property developer Evergrande – Evergrande New Energy Auto – has paused mass production due to a lack of orders, Reuters reported on Friday. The unit is also laying off around 10% of its staff, a person involved in the business told Chinese media outlet Securities Daily on Friday. The source added that 25% of New Energy Auto employees won’t receive salaries for the next one to three months. The company initially planned to develop nine EV models simultaneously, but had to change strategy to focus more on delivering its first model Hengchi 5, and developing Hengchi 6 and 7 models because of Covid impact and other market factors, the source added. Evergrande Group, whose property arm has been engulfed in debt crises in recent months, first stepped into the EV sector by investing in Faraday Future in 2018. Evergrande New Energy Auto managed to produce the Hengchi 5 in volume in September and claimed it had delivered its first 100 cars in October. [Reuters, Securities Daily, in Chinese]