In recent years, ZOTYE (000980.SZ) has experienced significant turmoil in its management.

On the evening of April 14, ZOTYE announced that, following the nomination by the company's president and the qualification review by the board's nomination committee, the board decided to appoint Li Yan as the company's vice president.

It is noteworthy that the Yangtze River Business Journal found that in mid-October 2025, the company's board held a re-election, during which half of the six non-independent directors have resigned in the past six months.

In terms of performance, from 2019 to 2024, ZOTYE's cumulative net profit attributable to the parent company has lost 25.35 billion yuan.

Recently, ZOTYE released a performance forecast indicating that the company expects a net profit loss attributable to the parent company of 281 million to 417 million yuan in 2025, a decrease of 58.32% to 71.91% compared to the same period last year.

It is important to note that as of the end of the third quarter of 2025, ZOTYE's asset-liability ratio reached 99.41%, just "one step away" from insolvency. However, in the latest announcement, the company expects its net assets to be positive by the end of 2025.

The good news is that on March 18, ZOTYE's wholly-owned subsidiary Zhejiang ShenKang Automotive Body Mould Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ShenKang Body") held a resumption of work and production ceremony.

ZOTYE's newly appointed chairman Han Biwen stated that ShenKang Body will lay a solid foundation for the research and development of new platforms and the production of new models for ZOTYE.

Li Lizhong Resigned as Chairman Less Than Three Months After Appointment

On the evening of April 14, ZOTYE announced that, following the nomination by the company's president and the qualification review by the board's nomination committee, the board decided to appoint Li Yan as the company's vice president.

On January 30, ZOTYE had announced that the board decided to appoint Li Yan as the company's board secretary, which has only been two and a half months.

According to his personal resume, Li Yan was born in April 1982, holds a master's degree in economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and is a certified public accountant and ACCA. He has worked at auditing and financial institutions such as PwC Zhongtian, Lixin Certified Public Accountants, and Haitong Securities, and has also served as the board secretary and public affairs director at Ruian Gene.

In recent years, ZOTYE has experienced significant turmoil in its management.

In mid-October 2025, ZOTYE announced regarding the re-election of the board of directors, indicating that the ninth board of directors consists of 9 directors (6 non-independent directors and 3 independent directors). Among them, LEEI JIAN, Li Lizhong, Lin Longhua, Xu Mingzhe, Wang Yian, and Wu Donglin are non-independent directors.

At the end of November 2025, ZOTYE announced that the board received a written resignation letter from director Wu Donglin. Due to adjustments in the company's governance structure, Wu Donglin applied to resign from his position as a director of the ninth board of directors, but he still holds a position in the company after resigning.

At the end of December 2025, ZOTYE announced again that the board received a written resignation letter from chairman Li Lizhong. Due to personal family reasons, Li Lizhong applied to resign from his positions as chairman and director of the ninth board of directors. After resigning, Li Lizhong no longer holds any position in the company. This was less than three months after he became chairman At the same time, the board of directors of ZOTYE approved the nomination of Han Biwen as a candidate for a non-independent director of the company's ninth board of directors. In mid-January 2026, Han Biwen was elected as the chairman of the company.

According to information, Han Biwen has worked at Chery Automobile for a long time. Before joining ZOTYE, he also worked at Kaiwo New Energy Vehicle (Core Stock) Co., Ltd., serving as co-CEO and general manager of the international marketing center.

At the end of February 2026, ZOTYE announced that the board of directors received a written resignation letter from non-independent director Lin Longhua. Due to personal work planning reasons, Lin Longhua applied to resign from the position of non-independent director of the company's ninth board of directors. After resigning, Lin Longhua no longer holds any position in the company.

Overall, the Changjiang Business Daily found that since the latest board reshuffle six months ago, half of the six directors of ZOTYE have left.

It is worth mentioning that on March 28, 2026, ZOTYE announced that the company received a warning letter issued by the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

According to ZOTYE's restructuring plan, the company should repay 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of the principal of the restructured debt from the end of 2023 to the end of 2026. By the end of 2025, the company and its subsidiaries had a total of 69.4611 million yuan in newly due unpaid debt principal, which was only disclosed on January 27, 2026.

As a result, the regulatory authorities decided to take administrative supervision measures against ZOTYE, Li Lizhong, Han Biwen, and Wang Yian by issuing a warning letter, which will be recorded in the integrity file of the securities and futures market.

The distance from asset disposal to debt repayment is only "a step away"

In recent years, ZOTYE has been in a state of loss.

Data shows that from 2019 to 2024, ZOTYE's net profit attributable to the parent company accumulated a loss of 25.35 billion yuan.

Recently, ZOTYE released a performance forecast indicating that the company expects a net profit loss attributable to the parent company of 281 million to 417 million yuan in 2025, a decrease of 58.32% to 71.91% compared to the same period last year; the net profit loss excluding non-recurring items is expected to be 286 million to 425 million yuan, a decrease of 71.08% to 80.54% compared to the same period last year.

In response, ZOTYE stated that in 2025, the company is in a critical stage of restarting the complete vehicle business and resolving historical legacy issues, and the performance during the reporting period is expected to incur losses mainly due to historical legacy issues, which have led to the complete vehicle business being basically at a standstill. At the same time, to maintain the basic framework of the company and promote the resumption of work and production plans, the company still needs to bear necessary management expenses, financial expenses, and other rigid fixed expenditures, resulting in continued losses at the main business level.

On March 19, 2026, ZOTYE announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Zhejiang Shenkang Automobile Body Mould Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Shenkang Body") held a resumption of work and production commencement ceremony on March 18, officially resuming production and operations.

Shenkang Body has been deeply engaged in the automotive mold and body parts field for more than 20 years, with certain technical accumulation and manufacturing experience ZOTYE Automobile stated that the resumption of work and production is beneficial for improving the company's parts supply system, laying the foundation for the subsequent development of new platforms and production of new models.

At the resumption event, Han Biwen stated that in the future, the company will rely on the technical foundation and manufacturing advantages accumulated over more than 20 years at ShenKang Body, with Yongkang as the core base, radiating to the Yangtze River Delta, continuously expanding market space, and striving to build a leading domestic complete vehicle production base. At the same time, ShenKang Body will solidify a strong foundation for ZOTYE Automobile's new platform development and new model production.

However, in the announcement, ZOTYE Automobile reminded that the resumption of work and production at ShenKang Body is still in the early stages, and its capacity ramp-up, supply chain coordination, and quality control will require time to adjust, and the stability of its production and operations needs to be verified in the future. The company is currently still facing significant financial pressure and debt burden, and the full recovery of the complete vehicle business requires the maturation and efforts of multiple conditions, which carries considerable uncertainty.

The Changjiang Business Daily found that as of the end of the third quarter of 2025, ZOTYE Automobile's asset-liability ratio reached 99.41%, with total assets of 3.37 billion yuan, total liabilities of 3.35 billion yuan, and net assets of only 19.7242 million yuan, just "a step away" from insolvency.

However, in January 2026, ZOTYE Automobile announced that, according to preliminary calculations by the company's finance department, it is expected that the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company for the year 2025 will be negative, and the operating performance for the year 2025 will still be in a loss state; it is expected that the net assets at the end of 2025 will be positive.

More exclusive planning and expert columns in the stock channel, free to check>>