Geely Zhidou (D1, D2, D3)

[ausrutherford]

SO ZD got bought by Geely?

[dmitra]

No, Zhidou has not been bought outright by Geely, but after Zotye got busy with its own electric vehicles (Zema with Dearcar, E200, and the Yun series) it did not cooperate further with Zhidou in advancing the E20, and Zhidou and Geely got closer (movie/soap opera script, no?). Point to note is that Geely and Zhidou had already begun their JV operation while the latter was supplying the E20 to Zotye.

Now the Zhidou-Geely cooperation runs very deep, where Zhidou is using or repurposing Geely plants (in Lanzhou, Ningbo and possibly Jinan) to manufacture its microcars.

For the background of the JV read:
http://www.geelyauto.com.hk/core/fil...0150108288.pdf

http://www.geelyauto.com.hk/core/fil...en/2015-02.pdf (pages 011 and 012)

but also read this for a different perspective:
http://wap.chinadaily.com.cn/2016-06...t_25868204.htm

[CCF mod]

[CCF mod]

https://car.autohome.com.cn/pic/seri...areaid=2042212
https://car.autohome.com.cn/pic/seri...areaid=2042220

More at:
http://price.pcauto.com.cn/cars/m79879-o1/
http://price.pcauto.com.cn/cars/sg22317/

[dmitra]

I realize the D3 is a new car altogether. Body panels, windows, interiors -- everything is different from the preceding cars.

P.S.: Since there is no Zotye involvement anymore, I am still wondering if we should move this thread to the Geely forum.

[CCF mod]

Done!

[jumpjack]

I hardly found what the history of this vehicle is from Zotye to Geely.
Wouldn't it be better to keep the original Zhidou thread in Zhidou section, closing it and (or leaving it open for owners of old models) pointing it to a new one titled "Geely D2 car" in this section? Else, this thread which narrates history of this vehicle will be found only by people already knowing the history!

[dmitra]

Zhidou Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. (the parent of Lanzhou Zhidou Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd.) announced a new project in Nanjing. A manufacturing base for new energy vehicles will be set up in Nanjing Pukou Economic Development Zone (Pukou dt.) in two phases and will have a projected capacity of 200,000 vehicles per annum. The total planned investment is around 12 bn RMB (1.8 bn USD).

http://news.cnev.cn/Info_119946.html

For the current shareholding pattern of Zhidou Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., see this post.

[Lawrence]

So active production bases for Zhidou will be Yongdeng County, Lanzhou, in Gansu; Yinan County, Linyi in Shandong (circa 30K/year); and soon to be brownfield (or greenfield?) plant in Pukou of Nanjing. Is this correct?

[dmitra]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

Is this correct?

Yes, that's correct, plus Southern Binhai New Area of Ninghai County in Ningbo, Zhejiang, that opened in early 2018 (article).

Zhidou's cars have also been made at Geely's Jinan (Shandong) facility.

Looking at the declared amount of investment, the Nanjing factory appears to be a greenfield project.