Here’s a Zotye Z200 HB, seen in the summer of 2023 near Zhangjiakou in China’s Hebei Province. The compact hatchback was in reasonable shape, painted in silver with cracks in the bumpers and other minor damage to the body. The license plate is from Hebei Province.
Zotye Automobile
Zotye Automobile was a Chinese car maker. It existed from 2005 until 2022. The company was always in some sort of trouble, or so it seemed: takeovers, mergers, bankruptcies, restructurings, and on it went. The brand name is still around, and there have been plans to restart the company, but so far without any result.
Zotye Z200 HB
The Zotye Z200 HB was based on the Fiat Palio hatchback. The Nanjing-Fiat joint venture manufactured the Palio in China from 2002 until 2007. When Najing-Fiat was disbanded, Zotye bought the tooling and the copyrights for the Fiat Palio hatchback and the Fiat Siena sedan.
The new Chinese owner renamed the Fiats to Z200 HB (for hatchback) and Z200. In 2008, Zotye also acquired the rights to the second-generation Fiat Multipla.
Zotye redesigned the front and the rear – giving the old Fiat a modern look. It also updated the wheels and added a spoiler above the rear window. Note the fancy mudflaps integrated into the bumper!
The deal between Nanjing-Fiat and Zotye included the engines, which continued unchanged. Zotye, however, did come up with a fancy engine name: VVT-i, with a red dot above the i. The 1.3 had 97 hp and 126 Nm, the 1.5 had 120 hp and 147 Nm. Zotye offered a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic gearbox. The top speed was 160 km/h for both versions.
The designers gave the interior a makeover as well, with a fancy new dashboard with large, round dials and a shiny center stack with a shipload of small black buttons. The owner of this car added fuzzy seat covers.
The covers have a Burberry pattern and look rather worn out. The floor needs some cleaning, too. Standard equipment of the Zotye Z200 HB included a radio-CD player, an audio system with 6 speakers, manual air conditioning, and electric windows. Top-spec versions had sat-nav, a sunroof, and real-leather seats.
The Zotye Z200 and Z200 HB made quite a splash at launch. It was a surprise for many that a small company like Zotye managed to get its hands on ‘foreign’ car technology, even if that technology was already outdated. Zotye priced the Z200 HB at 49.600 yuan, and that was a good deal for the car you got.
Characters: 众泰汽车, Zhòngtài Qìchē, Zotye Automobile.
Initially, sales were pretty good, and the Fiat-based Zotye cars became quite popular. But from the late 00s, newer Chinese car brands like Geely and Chery started to boom. These brands launched so many competing models that Zotye didn’t stand a chance. Production of the Z200 HB and Z200 ended in 2011, and that was also the final end for the Palio and Siena in China.