CCTV named names. Nezha Automobile suffered a huge loss of 18.3 billion yuan in three years, "severely harming" local investments.
Nezha Auto, which has long been in the bankruptcy reorganization process, was recently pushed into the spotlight again due to an exposure by CCTV.
On the evening of April 21st, CCTV's "Focus Interview" aired a report exposing that Nezha Auto "burned" 18.3 billion yuan in net profit in three years of car - making, causing the investments of state - owned assets in many places to go down the drain. The report showed that the total investment of the project in Yichun alone reached as high as 5 billion yuan.
Looking back at the development of Nezha Auto, it also had its glorious moments. In 2022, Nezha Auto's annual sales exceeded 150,000 units, once outperforming "NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto" to win the sales championship among new - energy vehicle startups.
However, due to the combined influence of multiple factors such as product positioning, Nezha Auto's subsequent sales suffered a cliff - like decline, and its factories also came to a standstill.
In June 2025, the court accepted the bankruptcy reorganization case of Nezha Auto's parent company, Hozon New Energy.
According to the administrator of Hozon New Energy, as of the end of August last year, 1,631 creditors had filed claims, with a total amount of up to 26.58 billion yuan; while the book balance of the company's debtor account in monetary funds was only about 15.4591 million yuan.
In the second half of last year, there were reports that Nezha Auto had found its "white knight", and Shanzi High - tech had fully taken over Nezha Auto.
However, relevant staff of Shanzi High - tech responded at that time, "We have such an intention (referring to the intention to participate in the reorganization of Hozon New Energy), but it has not been finally determined yet."
Now, several months have passed, and the reorganization path of Nezha Auto is still full of challenges.
A Loss of 18.3 Billion in Three Years: Did the Investment Promotion Turn into a 'Harm'?
Under the lens of CCTV's "Focus Interview", Nezha Auto's car factory in Yichun, Jiangxi, was "deserted", with only dusty assembly lines left in the empty factory.
It is reported that this automobile manufacturing factory covering more than 600 mu was once one of Nezha's three production bases and was put into operation in 2021.
According to the original design, the Yichun factory was planned to have an annual production capacity of 100,000 complete vehicles, with complete equipment for the four major processes of stamping, painting, welding, and assembly, mainly producing models such as Nezha S, Nezha U, and Nezha V.
However, due to the lack of the complete vehicle production qualification, the Yichun factory was subsequently adjusted and only undertook the production tasks of parts.
Back then, in order to attract new - energy vehicle companies to Yichun, which lacked a car - making foundation and geographical advantages, the Yichun Economic Development Zone Management Committee and Hozon New Energy Company signed a contract with a total project investment of 5 billion yuan.
Most of the budget was to be raised by the Yichun Economic Development Zone. Relevant platform companies under the Yichun State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the Finance Bureau invested nearly 2 billion yuan to acquire equity, and the land and factories were also solved through a company invested and established by local state - owned enterprises.
Other supporting measures were also given the green light all the way. The local government invested in equity, built factories on behalf of the company, provided a ten - year rent exemption, and even rewarded 20,000 yuan for each car sold in Yichun.
Nezha Auto's other two production bases are located in Tongxiang, Zhejiang, and Nanning, Guangxi, respectively.
Among them, the Tongxiang factory is Nezha Auto's first factory, which was put into operation in 2018 and is mainly responsible for the production of complete vehicles for the domestic market; the Nanning factory mainly undertakes the function of exporting KD (knock - down) parts.
It is reported that the industrial park in Qingxiu District, Nanning, is the result of the strategic cooperation between Hozon New Energy and the Nanning Municipal Government.
According to the cooperation agreement, the project plans to build a pure - electric passenger vehicle project with an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles in Nanning. Most of the funds will be invested by Nanning, and the land and factories will also be purchased and built by Nanning.
Mu Wei, the deputy director of the Nanning Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology in Guangxi, said, "The so - called market - oriented method costs about 2.4 billion yuan. The source of funds is from platform companies, which are also corporate entities. We invested in the parent company of Hozon through a fund."
The so - called market - oriented method is actually borne by Nanning's state - owned enterprises. It is understood that this 2.4 billion yuan is mainly invested by enterprises under the Nanning government, among which Nanning Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd. under the Municipal State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission accounts for the largest investment.
He Hao, the deputy general manager of Nanning Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd. in Guangxi, revealed, "We invested about 1.6 billion yuan. One source of funds is the revitalization of our own assets, and the other may be financing. For example, it's a combination of funds. Maybe I borrow money in the early stage, but later I can replace it through bond issuance."
In addition to borrowing and bond issuance, in December 2020 alone, Nanning gave a subsidy of 550 million yuan to the Nanning Industrial Investment New Energy Project.
Despite the investment from local capital, the market competition was extremely cruel, and the risks ignored during the investment promotion cooperation gradually emerged. As Nezha Auto fell into an operational dilemma, the former local investments went down the drain.
Data shows that from 2021 to 2023, Hozon New Energy Company accumulated a net loss of up to 18.3 billion yuan, with an average loss of more than 80,000 yuan per vehicle sold.
Since 2024, Nezha Auto's production lines in three places have been shut down. In the second half of 2025, Hozon New Energy was applied for bankruptcy reorganization by creditors.
From Sales Champion to Shutdown: The Founder Becomes a 'Deadbeat'
Before falling into the current operational dilemma, Nezha Auto also had its glorious moments.
Public information shows that the founder of Nezha Auto is Fang Yunzhou, who was born in Tongcheng, Anhui, in 1975.
In 1998, Fang Yunzhou graduated from the Department of Automotive Engineering of Hefei University of Technology, known as the "Whampoa Military Academy" in the Chinese automotive industry. Then he was recruited by his alumnus Yin Tongyue, the founder of Chery Automobile, into the newly - established Chery Automobile.
After working at Chery for three years, Fang Yunzhou was transferred to the newly - established "Clean Energy Vehicle Special Team" to be responsible for the research and development of cutting - edge technologies for clean - energy vehicles such as hybrid vehicles, alternative - fuel vehicles, and electric sedans.
In 2003, the first new - energy vehicle independently developed by Fang Yunzhou and other Chery employees was officially off the production line.
In 2010, the Chery Clean Energy Vehicle Special Team was officially transformed into "Chery New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd.", and Fang Yunzhou served as the deputy general manager and also the director of the Hybrid Power Department of Chery Automobile's Central Research Institute.
Under the leadership of Fang Yunzhou, around 2012, Chery New Energy achieved profitability and became the first profitable new - energy company in China.
From 2013 to 2014, Fang Yunzhou entered Tsinghua University as a post - doctoral researcher, studying under Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and thus conducted in - depth research in the new - energy field.
Also in 2014, Fang Yunzhou chose to leave Chery and founded Hozon New Energy in Tongxiang, Zhejiang, with his former Chery colleagues.
However, in the early stage of entrepreneurship, due to difficulties in financing, Hozon New Energy faced great difficulties, and its capital chain once broke.
In 2017, Wang Wenxue, the chairman of China Fortune Land Development, took a fancy to this new - energy enterprise with a "Chery + Tsinghua" background. Through his affiliated Zhhe Mobility, he injected 1.25 billion yuan into Hozon, and Wang Wenxue successfully took control of Hozon New Energy.
Subsequently, Zhang Yong, who had worked at BAIC, was invited to serve as the company's president.
In June 2018, Hozon New Energy obtained the production qualification for pure - electric passenger vehicles approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and officially launched the Nezha Auto brand.
One month later, Nezha N01, the first mass - produced model of Nezha Auto, was officially unveiled. Driven by Wang Wenxue, most of Nezha Auto's orders came from shared - mobility companies.
However, as Wang Wenxue withdrew his investment later, Fang Yunzhou had to look for "rescue funds" everywhere again.
In 2019, Yichun local government lent a helping hand, and Nezha Auto turned the corner again. In the same period, the reduction of national subsidies for new - energy vehicles and the cancellation of local subsidies allowed Nezha N01, which was low - priced and focused on cost - effectiveness, to fill the gap and successfully test the C - end market.
After 2020, Nezha successively launched two major model series, U and V, further opening up the market. In 2022, Nezha Auto delivered more than 150,000 new vehicles throughout the year, winning the sales championship among new - energy vehicle startups.
Meanwhile, Fang Yunzhou was also accelerating the capitalization process of Nezha Auto to fill the capital gap in car - making.
According to Tianyancha, from 2019 to 2024, Nezha Auto completed more than ten rounds of financing. In addition to the state - owned assets from Nanning, Yichun, Tongxiang and other places, there were also industry giants and well - known capitals such as CATL, CRRC Group, Shenzhen Capital Group, and 360 betting on it.
However, the equity of Hozon New Energy was relatively scattered, and the internal shareholders of the company restricted each other, resulting in Nezha Auto missing many opportunities at key development nodes.
Moreover, Nezha Auto's production model of "three places and four factories" became a black hole for cash - flow consumption, laying a foreshadow for the subsequent explosion of the company's problems.
In order to get rid of the label of focusing on the low - end market in the early stage, Nezha Auto launched Nezha S at the end of July 2022, officially entering the mid - to high - end market. However, throughout 2023, the cumulative sales of Nezha S were only 24,000 units, even less than the monthly sales of Li Auto.
At the same time, traditional car companies such as BYD accelerated their penetration into the 100,000 - yuan market, eroding part of the low - price market share on which Nezha Auto relied through their scale advantages.
In the absence of core competitiveness, Nezha Auto gradually lost its edge in the homogeneous competition. In 2023, Nezha Auto's delivery volume decreased by 16.16% year - on - year to 127,500 units; in 2024, its sales were directly halved to 64,500 units.
The sharp decline in car sales became the last straw that broke the camel's back for Nezha Auto. Subsequently, all of Nezha Auto's factories came to a standstill, and its production and operation fell into an unprecedented dilemma.
In March this year, Fang Yunzhou and Zhang Yong were listed as dishonest debtors by the Changning District People's Court of Shanghai for "having the ability to perform but refusing to perform the obligations determined by the effective legal documents".
According to Tianyancha, as of now, there are still more than 300 consumption - restriction orders under Fang Yunzhou's name.
Nezha Finds Its 'White Knight': Will Shanzi High - tech Take Over?
As the enterprise's operational crisis intensified, Hozon New Energy had to embark on the reorganization path.
On June 12, 2025, the Intermediate People's Court of Jiaxing ruled to accept the bankruptcy reorganization case of Hozon New Energy and appointed three law firms as joint administrators.
At the end of the same month, the administrator issued a pre - recruitment announcement for potential reorganization investors, requiring potential investors to provide investment plans, resumption - of - production plans, etc., and giving priority to investors willing to provide financial support for resuming production.
On September 12 of the same year, the first creditors' meeting of the bankruptcy reorganization case of Hozon New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. was officially held online. The administrator of Hozon New Energy disclosed the ongoing bankruptcy reorganization and some of its data to the outside world.
According to the administrator of Hozon New Energy, as of the end of August that year, 1,631 creditors had filed claims, with a total amount of up to 26.58 billion yuan; while the book balance of the company's debtor account in monetary funds was only about 15.4591 million yuan.
At the same time, the company also owed more than 5,000 employees' wages, economic compensation and other payments, totaling about 460 million yuan.
On December 18 of the same year, the administrator of Hozon New Energy revealed that as of 17:00 on December 12, a total of two potential institutions had submitted application materials.
Based on this, the administrator formed a review committee and held a selection and review meeting for the entrusted management party at 14:00 on December 15 to conduct on - site reviews of the two applying institutions. According to the review results, one of the potential institutions was selected as the entrusted management party for operation and management.
At that time, there were rumors that Shanzi High - tech had fully taken over Nezha Auto. An employee who recently left Nezha Auto told NBD that "since Shanzi High - tech has its own team, most of the old employees of Nezha Auto have left after the internal adjustment."
One day before the deadline for applications for the entrusted management party of Nezha's reorganization, that is, on December 11, 2025, Zhejiang Qianhe Automobile Co., Ltd. was established. The company's registered address is the same as that of Hozon New Energy, located in Wutong Street, Tongxiang, Zhejiang.
According to Tianyancha, the legal representative of Qianhe Automobile is Zhu Renjie, the former director of Tesla's manufacturing engineering. The company is 100% controlled by Shanghai Shanzi Youqian Technology Co., Ltd., which is a wholly - owned subsidiary of Shanzi High - tech.
At that time, relevant staff of Shanzi High - tech said that the company had never officially responded to the rumors of taking over Nezha Auto. "We have such an intention (referring to the intention to participate in the reorganization of Hozon New Energy), but it has not been finally determined yet."
Regarding the purpose of establishing Qianhe Automobile, relevant staff of Shanzi High - tech denied that it was in preparation for the reorganization of Nezha Auto and said that "it is just a part of the company's normal business operations."
It is worth noting that on January 30 this year, Qianhe Automobile was included in the list of abnormal business operations by the Tongxiang Market Supervision and Administration Bureau on the grounds that it could not be contacted through the registered address or business premises.
Can the ill - fated Nezha Auto successfully "come back to life" in the future? Radar Finance will continue to follow up.