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.
