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With the official release of the statement, Zotye Automobile and other four car enterprises "bankruptcy door" storm temporarily subsided, Zotye said the content of the online news is completely false. However, a paper lawsuit from the supplier caused Zotye, a 20-year-old independent automobile enterprise, to fall into the "debt gate". The problem of capital chain is still fermenting. Shenzhen Bick Power Battery Co., Ltd. sued Zotye Automobile for a huge sum of 600 million yuan.

On October 14, BAK Battery issued an announcement disclosing the details of the case. The case of the company suing Zhongtai four companies was filed in Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court on August 5. The lawsuit was withdrawn after both parties reached a settlement agreement, but Zhongtai failed to perform according to the agreement. At present, the lawsuit has been filed again.

The four companies sued are Zhongtai New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., Yongkang Zhongtai Automobile Co., Ltd., Zhongtai Automobile Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Jieneng Power Co., Ltd., among which Hangzhou Jieneng Power is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhongtai New Energy.

BAK Battery also said that Zotye's arrears reached 621 million yuan, and the court has accepted the case at present. At the same time, BAK Battery filed an application for property preservation with the court, freezing 41.83 million yuan of property in Zotye.

According to the data, BAK battery has been supplying power batteries for Zotye since 2014 and has become one of the core suppliers of Zotye new energy vehicles, accounting for 60% of the installed capacity of the latter. For example, Zotye will produce 31,500 new energy vehicles in 2018, and BIC batteries will supply 18,900 units.

The stable partnership finally broke down in January this year. According to Bick battery insiders revealed to the media, Zotye Automobile has not received timely payment since the second half of 2018, and the company decided to stop the battery supply to Zotye Automobile in January 2019.

Many times to ask for money failed, Bic battery lawsuit Zhongtai car case was accepted by the court on August 5. BAK battery revealed that the two parties reached a settlement agreement after several negotiations, Zhongtai gave a clear repayment plan, BAK withdrew the lawsuit, but Zhongtai did not perform each agreed payment plan according to the time, so BAK filed a lawsuit again.

Zotye Automobile, which is famous for its counterfeit luxury cars, has damaged the reputation of brand fuel vehicles due to quality problems and counterfeit design. It is not easy for new energy vehicles to improve, but it has been exposed to stagnation due to default on payment from battery suppliers. Today's infamous Zhongtai, no matter which direction it develops, has great difficulties.

According to the official website, there are only three models of Zhongtai new energy products, which are positioned at the lower end, namely Cloud 100 plus, Z500EV Pro and E200 Pro models respectively. Since 2019, no new energy products have been put on the market.

In the field of passenger cars, Zhongtai Group owns Zhongtai, Hanteng, Junma and Hanlong automobile brands, among which Junma Automobile has been discontinued only two years after its establishment. Hanlong Automobile will be a brand-new brand launched by Zhongtai. The factory is located in Daye, Hubei Province.

Zotye Automobile tasted the sweetness on the road of "imitation", launching some "high-value" products such as T600, SR9 and Damai X7, and sales soared to 320,000 vehicles in 2016. With the changes in the market, imitation has become unpopular, product quality, word-of-mouth and so on gradually occupy the mainstream of consumption, Zhongtai has also lost its continuous growth in sales performance. Data show that from January to August this year, Zhongtai automobile accumulated sales of 125,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 32.4%.

Zhongtai caused a bigger blow is that the company turned from profit to loss, Zhongtai Automobile lost 290 million yuan in the first half of the year.

Zotye, which is in urgent need of capital supplement, has obtained many loans at present. In August this year, Zhongtai Automobile revealed that led by Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Yongkang Agricultural Commercial Bank will jointly issue 3 billion yuan of capital loan to Zhongtai Automobile as a rescue fund for phased resumption of production. On September 11, Zhongtai Automobile disclosed that it applied for a trust loan of 200 million yuan from Shanxi Trust Co., Ltd. In addition, Zotye Automobile also received 60 million yuan of new energy subsidies from the government.

In the first half of the year, the performance loss was 300 million yuan, and the supplier claimed 600 million yuan. The capital chain problem of Zhongtai Automobile really existed. After obtaining multiple financing loans, Zotye Automobile's financial difficulties were temporarily relieved and its production and operation were guaranteed. Only the car market shuffle intensified,"notorious" Zotye can continue to go how far?

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