More than 3,300 people watched the event, assets of one of Nezha's bases are to be auctioned at a discount: ranging from large robots to small screwdrivers, the company has suffered a total loss of 18.3 billion yuan in three years, with state-owned capital from multiple regions deeply involved in the related affairs.

Recently, the People's Court of Qingxiu District, Nanning publicly auctioned "a batch of mechanical equipment stored at No. 88, Changlong Road, Lingli Town, Qingxiu District, Nanning" on the Ali Judicial Auction Platform, with a starting price of about 60.3079 million yuan. More than 2,700 people viewed the auction and 160 users set reminders. As no one registered for the auction, the first round ended with a failed auction.

At present, the above-mentioned equipment has entered the second auction procedure. The auction will start at 10 a.m. on August 12, with a bidding period of 1 day, and the starting price has been reduced to about 48.2463 million yuan. Up to now, there have been 610 views, but the registration status bar still shows "0 people". The total number of views of the first and second auctions has exceeded 3,300 person-times.

Image source: Screenshot of Ali Judicial Auction Platform

The address of the auction target shown in the announcement is the location of Neta Auto's Nanning production base. On August 4, a relevant person in charge of an auxiliary auction agency told the reporter of National Business Daily that the main items of this auction are the equipment in the Nanning base, but not all equipment is included in the auction.

At present, the above-mentioned equipment has entered the second auction procedure. The auction announcement of the People's Court of Qingxiu District, Nanning clearly stipulates that during the bidding period of the second auction, "if the current auction fails, a sale by appraisal will be carried out; if the current auction is concluded, the subsequent sale by appraisal will be automatically cancelled."

There are 438 auction items in total, and the starting price of the second auction is reduced by more than 20%

"The items in the pictures posted online are not within the scope of the auction." The relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned auxiliary auction agency repeatedly emphasized to the reporter that the auctioned manufacturing equipment only involves several production lines, and materials, semi-finished products and finished products are not included in the auction.

Image source: Screenshot of the document provided by the interviewee

The "Detailed List of Auctioned Items under Execution No. 26-178" provided by this person in charge to the reporter shows that there are 438 items and 467 sets of equipment in total in this auction, including automatic lines and trackless vehicles in the stamping workshop; interior decoration conveying lines, chassis conveying lines, rear suspension lines, and final assembly tightening equipment in the final assembly workshop; electric angle wrenches and electric screwdrivers in the tool workshop; left/right fenders, outer panels of front compartment covers, etc. in the mold workshop. "If you win the bid then, you will also need to dismantle the equipment," the person in charge told the reporter, adding that on-site inspection of the equipment can be arranged if needed.

Image source: Screenshot of the document provided by the interviewee

The reporter found that the starting price of the second auction was reduced by more than 20%, with the reduction amount exceeding 12 million yuan. "The failure of the first auction of equipment at Neta Auto's Nanning base reflects the real market demand. Since no one registered for the first judicial auction, the price of the second judicial auction can only be reduced," said Ji Xuehong, Director of the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology.

Image source: Screenshot of Ali Judicial Auction Platform

Regarding this failed auction, Ji Xuehong said in an interview with the reporter that the current production capacity of China's automotive industry is already very sufficient, which has led to weakening actual market demand for production equipment. Reflected on the investment side, domestic automakers have little willingness to build new factories, and instead choose to renovate existing plants. This is not only a consideration of cost, but also a signal of intensifying industry competition and accelerating the elimination phase.

The main entity of the Nanning production base has a total executed amount of more than 183 million yuan

On August 4, a former employee of Neta Auto revealed to the reporter that the Nanning production base is a KD (knocked-down parts) production plant of Neta Auto, which mainly serves for product exports. "The Guangxi Nanning plant is strategically positioned as a KD component export base facing the Southeast Asian market, serving as a bridgehead for Neta Auto to connect with the ASEAN market," Zhang Yong, then co-founder and CEO of Neta Auto, said in an interview with National Business Daily in March 2024.

According to the above-mentioned former Neta Auto employee, the main entity of the Nanning production base is Guangxi Ningda Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guangxi Ningda).

Information from Tianyancha shows that Guangxi Ningda was founded in 2019, as a joint venture established by Hozon New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hozon New Energy), the parent company of Neta Auto, and Nanning Yonghe Investment Co., Ltd., holding 85.29% and 14.71% of the shares respectively. At present, Guangxi Ningda has been listed as a person subject to execution, with the total executed amount exceeding 183 million yuan.

Image source: Tianyancha

This auction is executed by the People's Court of Qingxiu District, Nanning, with the case number (2026) Gui 0103 Zhi No. 178, involving overdue unpaid payment for goods under sales contracts. The applicant for execution of this case is Nanning Zhihong Technology Co., Ltd., and the persons subject to execution include four enterprises: Guangxi Ningda, Hozon New Energy, Nanning Ningda New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd., and Nanning Yonghe Investment Co., Ltd., with the execution target of about 45.6866 million yuan.

Neta Auto is an automotive brand under Hozon New Energy, founded in 2014. It is one of the earliest enterprises to obtain the "dual qualifications" for new energy passenger vehicles, and has three complete vehicle manufacturing bases in Tongxiang of Zhejiang, Yichun of Jiangxi, and Nanning of Guangxi. Among them, Neta Auto's Nanning production base was once a key project of cooperation between local state-owned assets and new car-making forces.

Public information shows that in 2019, the Nanning Municipal Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Hozon New Energy. Hozon planned to invest 3.5 billion yuan to build a pure electric passenger vehicle project in Nanning. After reaching full production, it is expected to achieve an annual production scale of 100,000 complete vehicles, with an estimated annual output value of about 12 billion yuan, and drive the improvement of Nanning's automotive industry supporting capacity.

Image source: Screenshot of the document provided by the interviewee

In fact, as early as 2024, there were rumors that Neta Auto's Nanning plant was completely shut down. However, at that time, Zhang Yong responded in an interview with the reporter: "In 2024, the Nanning plant will export 50,000 to 60,000 sets of KD parts."

Losing 18.3 billion yuan in three years, it is difficult to recover the "guarantee funds" from multiple local governments

However, Neta Auto's predicament has not been truly improved by Zhang Yong's above statement, and the crisis broke out completely in the second half of 2024.

Since October 2024, due to operational difficulties, Neta Auto has been exposed to a large number of negative news such as large-scale layoffs, salary cuts, delayed payment of supplier payments, production suspension and shutdown. In May 2025, Hozon New Energy was filed for bankruptcy reorganization, and in June of the same year, the Intermediate People's Court of Jiaxing ruled to accept the bankruptcy reorganization case of Hozon New Energy.

In Ji Xuehong's view, the development trajectory of Neta Auto in recent years is very representative, and its situation of moving towards bankruptcy reflects the deep reality of the industry — the market seems broad, but not all participants can get a share of the pie. "Under the current competition pattern, traditional automakers are accelerating transformation, private capital and cross-border forces are strongly entering the market, and overseas established giants and emerging forces are also eyeing covetously. Under the multi-party competition, industry competition has entered a white-hot stage," Ji Xuehong said.

Ji Xuehong believes that in this fierce elimination phase, the enterprises that can survive in the end must have the dual qualities of "no shortcomings + strong long board". At present, among the new car-making forces, the four brands of "NIO, Li Auto, XPeng" plus Leapmotor have basically gained a firm foothold, and the entry of Huawei and Xiaomi has further raised the competition threshold. The automotive industry is a highly technical and highly international industry, which is by no means easy for any team or capital to gain a foothold. The survival probability of new entrants is actually very low, and the operational risks far exceed external imagination.

In April this year, the "Focus Interview" column of CCTV reported that Hozon New Energy has built its own production bases in Tongxiang of Zhejiang, Nanning of Guangxi and Yichun of Jiangxi. Most of the investment in its 100,000-unit annual output pure electric passenger vehicle project in Nanning was provided by the local Nanning government, and the land and plant were also purchased and constructed with funds from the Nanning side. In addition to loans and bond issuance, Nanning municipal government granted a subsidy of 550 million yuan for the Nanning Industrial Investment New Energy Project in December 2020 alone.

Image source: Sina Weibo (@CCTV News)

According to CCTV reports, the contract signed between the Yichun Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee and Hozon New Energy shows that the total investment of its new energy vehicle project is 5 billion yuan, most of which is raised by the Yichun Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee. Moreover, the land and plant are solved by a company invested and established by a local state-owned enterprise, which cost nearly 300 million yuan alone.

Public data shows that from 2021 to 2023, Hozon New Energy's cumulative net loss reached as high as 18.3 billion yuan. Many local state-owned assets were deeply involved in the investment promotion of Neta Auto's projects. Data shows that a state-owned enterprise in Yichun has invested a total of 1.42 billion yuan, of which at least 800 million yuan is difficult to recover.

"The lessons learned from the automotive industry have sounded the alarm for investment promotion in emerging industries such as low-altitude economy, commercial aerospace and robotics," Ji Xuehong pointed out. Governments should not blindly issue subsidies just because the industry is emerging, otherwise it will easily attract speculative enterprises that come for profits. More importantly, local governments must improve their professional research and judgment capabilities and carefully select investment targets.

Cover image source: National Business Daily Media Library

This article is from the WeChat official account "NBD Headline", author: Li Xing, authorized for release by 36Kr.