Zotye is back at it — this time with something that doesn't look like anyone else's car. On September 22, the company's Yongkang base rolled out the first small batch of trial-production Wink Y01 International Edition units, with chairman and president Han Biwen on hand to flag off the first vehicle.
The milestone means the car has moved into full tooling-piece vehicle validation, with all four major processes — stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly — now running end to end. In plain English: the factory is real, the parts are production-grade, and what's left is durability testing and the countdown to mass production.
The Wink Y01 measures 3,912 mm long, 1,745 mm wide, 1,545 mm tall, with a 2,520 mm wheelbase — slotting neatly between the BYD Seagull and the Dolphin in size. That's the hottest corner of China's EV market: affordable small EVs with city-car footprints and big-car feature lists.
The "International Edition" tag is the tell. Zotye clearly intends this little hatchback to travel, and trial-production batches like this one are how Chinese brands line up overseas homologation before a global sales push.
Editor's Note: The brand that once cloned a Porsche is now trying to out-Smart Smart. If the Y01 lands overseas at the right price, the comeback might actually have legs.
— need a chat about China NEV market? mail me @ sheng.ye@ipsos.com