Zotye Z300- the Chinese Allion

[UsmanAnsari]

Zotye is a tiny automobile manufacturer in China's huge automobile market. however this small auto maker has the factory area of 500,000 square meters and more than 3000 employees with the capacity of annual production of 100,000 automobiles, more than 800 auto molds, 250,000 sets for automobile and meter instrument and stamping parts respectively.

Zotye survives among the severe competition with a lineup that is mostly based on out-gone models of Fiat, Suzuki etc.. the good thing is that its licensed.. they have recently acquired platforms for Fiat Palio and Fiat Sienna while they have bought the whole vehicle intellectual property rights of Suzuki Alto [local Mehran].. and have implemented a modern Euro IV Efi engine, a better interior and proper rear suspension setup in a car that cost only 2.33 lac PKR [when converted from Chinese yuan].. Their most popular product is called 5008 which is based on Daihatsu Terios.

Now Zotye are about to expand their lineup and introduced quite a few cars at Shanghai Auto Show earlier this year, among which the Z300 seems to be the first one getting into the production level, spy shots have already hit the internet.

Z300 is Zotye's first independently developed sedan and is expected to hit the Chinese market by early 2012. Measuring 4565x1766x1493mm, with a wheelbase of 2700mm, Z300 will carry Mitsubishi sourced 1.5 liter engine with 113hp and 147nm, mated to a 5-speed manual or automatic transmission. Price is expected to start from 75,000 yuan which converts into 9.8 lac PKR

While Z300 is said to be the first independently developed sedan by Zotye, the similarities with Toyota Allion are quite obvious and there is no news on any license or platform acquisition by Zotye this time..

EDIT:
The new Zotye Z300 sedan has been launched in the Chinese car market. The price starts at 58,999 yuan (8.44 lac PKR) and ends at 69,999 yuan (10.02 lac PKR).

[UsmanAnsari]

[UsmanAnsari]

[fahadsoulsnatcher911]

its kinda nice except the red wooden interior

[murtaza_murti]

It has a little touch of the Toyota Belta, Allion, Premio and the Nissan Altima.

[chinyoti]

How do they call independently designed? Its a full replica of the orignal thing , maybe licenced but still its not a independent design

[Xulfiqar]

How do they call independently designed? Its a full replica of the orignal thing , maybe licenced but still its not a independent design

Naqal ke liye aqal ki zaroorat hoti hai

[UsmanAnsari]

How do they call independently designed? Its a full replica of the orignal thing , maybe licenced but still its not a independent design

i think for Chinese, reverse engineering also means independent development

[Naveed4speed]

hmmm!
exterior quality looking very gud!

[usmanulamin]

chinese are improving day by day ..

[UsmanAnsari]

New spy shots of the Zotye Z300 sedan. The Z300 is said to be Zotye’s first independently developed sedan and will be listed in Q4. The production version will debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show in December.

[afnan_88]

ha ha ha even chinese cars r kept under so much secret , what can be copied or disclose , they r already copied cars

[ikrama1]

nice car yyar

[onlyfaith]

nice car..

[a4awais]

Impressive

[UsmanAnsari]

[UsmanAnsari]

[Dot3]

its looks good. what is the price?

[UsmanAnsari]

Zotye have long been the subject to take over rumors, as soon as the yearly automotive mergers and acquisitions rumor mill starts going Zotye are placed somewhere at the top of the list, but the plucky company has so far avoided overtures from major state owned companies they are rumored to be close to be setting up a partnership with Mitsubishi owing to Zotye’s impressive R&D in to battery swapping technology for their EV range.

At the Shanghai Auto Show earlier this year, Zotye showed a series of concept cars rather than current or new production cars, the cocky company was clearly eager to show its future rather than its current range, one of the concepts on display was the Z300. The Z300 is based on the Lancia Lybra platform that Zotye bought from Fiat. The full car measures in at (LxWxH) 4565mm x 1766 x 1493mm and has a wheelbase of 2700mm. Under the hood Zotye has taken engine power from Mitsubishi in the form of a 1.5L producing 117bhp and 141Nm of torque.

Chinese auto website Autohome.com.cn had an early test drive of the new Z300 prior to it hitting the market, overall comments are quite positive of what the car achieves for its estimated price of 70,000rmb to 100,000rmb with the only negative comments being about the Mitsubishi sourced engine which is not quite powerful enough, but more than enough for daily city driving.

Whilst the interior is obviously not on par with other compact sedans, especially the fake wood (although it may have a sheet of protective plastic covering the central section) the Z300 is Zotye’s first attempt at going mainstream, their first car was based on the Daihatsu Tarios, their second was the Fiat Multipla, the Terios based SUV sold in massive numbers, the Multiplan did not. The Z300 is likely to be a hit for Zotye when it hits the market later this year.

[UsmanAnsari]