Zotye plans to return to the market - this time with electric cars

Chinese company Zotye, which went bankrupt in 2021, is returning to the market. New investors who revived the brand decided to start the attack right away with electric cars. Conventional gasoline cars Zotye company is not going to do anything else.


In Russia, this Chinese brand is well known. First, we sold Z300 sedans - almost Toyota Avensis clones, then Coupa and Z600 crossovers appeared. The latter became popular with Russian drivers - it was called the small VW Touareg. The car really looked like a German crossover, but was many times cheaper.

But already in 2019, the owners of Zotye began to panic - there was information that the Chinese manufacturer was on the verge of bankruptcy. Representatives of the brand denied the rumors, but it soon became clear that this was true. In 2020, Zotye sales have been steadily declining, with dealerships closing. A car manufacturing plant in Belarus also ceased operations.



But now Zotye has found investors, acquired Junqu Automobile, and is working on several electric car models. To launch the production of new machines, it is planned to hire 500 specialists, whose salary is also not a secret - about 2,8 million rubles a month, if converted into Russian currency at the current rate.

By the way, Zotye was not just chosen as a launching pad for the invasion of the electric car market. She has long experience in this field. Back in 2011, the 5008 EV was offered in China. After 6 years, Zotye Z100 Plus appeared on sale.



In 2017, such an auto giant as Ford became interested in the developments of a Chinese manufacturer, and at the suggestion of the then US President Donald Trump, they began to build a joint plant for the production of electric cars. But that project turned out to be a failure - seeing that Zotye's business went downhill, Ford refused to cooperate further.

Now the Chinese manufacturer is developing new models of electric cars, while setting up assembly lines. They promise that the first Zotye will debut at the end of 2022. What exactly the new cars will be, the manufacturer did not say, saying only that they will become "the most technologically advanced product."

Whether Zotye will be able to revive the company in the near future or not is too early to judge. But looking at the scope and financial influence, it is already clear that the company is really actively developing.