No Cars to Sell, Where Does Zotye Auto's 80.39 Million Yuan Profit Come from in Half a Year?

Net profit attributable to parent is 80.39 million yuan, looking like a "turnaround"; but deducted non-recurring still lost 152 million yuan, operating profit lost 146 million yuan, 235 million yuan non-operating income is the key to the report turning red. What Zotye truly needs to answer is not why it profited this time, but when it can make money selling cars.

"The turnaround is real, but this 80.39 million yuan is mainly not earned from selling cars."

Core Evidence | Net Profit Turned Red, But Deducted Non-Recurring and Operating Profit Are Still Negative

Once the 80.39 million yuan figure came out, the first question should be: what did they earn it from?

The number most likely to be used as a headline in Zotye Auto's 2026 semi-annual report is 80.39 million yuan.

In the first half of the year, the company realized operating revenue of 190 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 32.08%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 80.39 million yuan, whereas the same period last year showed a loss of 148 million yuan. It looks like a car company that has been deeply involved in disputes over production stoppage, restructuring, and resumption of production for many years has suddenly "turned a profit".

But this is exactly the time when one needs to stop and look twice.

Because on the next line of the same statement, Zotye's net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses still lost 152 million yuan, and the loss widened by 40.31% year-on-year; the operating profit in the consolidated income statement also still lost 145.5 million yuan.

In other words, if looking only at normal operations, Zotye not only did not earn 80.39 million yuan, but is still losing money.

Figure 1 | Core Financial Data: Net Profit Attributable to Parent Turned Red, But Deducted Non-Recurring and Operating Profit Are Still Negative

So where did the 80.39 million yuan come from? The answer is not mysterious, the financial report writes it very clearly: non-recurring gains and losses in the first half of the year totaled 232.4 million yuan, nearly 2.9 times the net profit attributable to the parent; non-operating income reached 234.5 million yuan, accounting for 306.75% of the total profit. The company itself clearly marked in the "Non-Core Business Analysis" that this part of the income "is not sustainable".

So, the four words "Zotye Turnaround" are true; but if readers understand it as "Zotye Auto has started making money from selling cars again", then it is far from the facts.

The thing that truly turned the income statement red is the 200 million yuan compensation and the cleanup of historical issues

Digging further into the financial report notes, the source of the 80.39 million yuan becomes more specific.

Zotye's non-operating income in the first half of the year was 234.5 million yuan, among which the most significant was "Agreement Compensation" 200.968 million yuan; there were also "Payments Not Required" 32.3164 million yuan, and other miscellaneous non-operating income. Previously, the company had explained in the semi-annual earnings forecast that this turnaround mainly came from strategic contraction: deregistering low-efficiency, non-operating subsidiary companies and production addresses, obtaining about 200 million yuan in compensation; at the same time, litigation settlements also brought in about 30 million yuan in non-operating income.

This is actually an account that is easy to understand.

Zotye left a large number of historical burdens in the past. Now, by exiting low-efficiency assets, deregistering non-operating entities, and settling debts and litigation, past issues are being settled one by one, so the financial statements confirm one-time gains. This gain is real and has value—a company that has undergone restructuring, gradually cleaning up historical debts, frozen assets, and low-efficiency production addresses, is a step that was originally necessary to restore operations.

Figure 2 | Profit Source Breakdown: Non-Operating Income is the Key to Turnaround

But "making money by clearing old accounts" and "making money by selling new cars" are two completely different things.

The former is more like disposing of old items pressed in the warehouse for years, releasing cash and accounting gains once; the latter means products, channels, brands, and users have formed a repeatable commercial cycle again.

Zotye clearly has not yet proven the second thing.

Business Structure | The Main Support for Revenue is Still Parts and Door Industry

A car company, mainly relying on parts and "doors" to support revenue in the first half of the year

What is even more interesting, or even a bit absurd, is the revenue structure.

Zotye itself admits in the semi-annual report: the company is currently still in the stage of production stoppage and resumption, and the main source of operating revenue during the reporting period is still auto parts and door industry. During the reporting period, the vehicle business "has not yet resumed production", only completed shipment of a small number of overseas order vehicles, and did not carry out scaled vehicle production.

Figure 3 | Revenue Structure: Current Main Revenue Still Comes from Parts and Door Industry

Looking specifically, in the 190 million yuan operating revenue, auto parts-related income was about 101.1 million yuan, accounting for 53.16%; door product income was 61.83 million yuan, accounting for 32.51%; other income was 27.27 million yuan, accounting for 14.34%.

In other words, a listed company named "Zotye Auto" had nearly one-third of its revenue in the first half of the year come from fireproof doors, anti-theft safety doors, cast aluminum doors, and non-standard customized doors.

This is not mockery, but a fact in the financial report.

The auto parts business is at least still at the same table with the automotive industry: instruments, harnesses, and sheet metal parts can still normally generate orders; the door industry is another business left in the listed company system after restructuring. They now bear the role of "maintaining basic income", rather than proving that the Zotye vehicle brand has returned.

More eye-catching is overseas. Zotye's semi-annual report wrote a lot about overseas market expansion, ASEAN, South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and also mentioned promoting strategic cooperation with partners in Indonesia and India. But revenue from foreign regions in the first half of the year was only 5.21 million yuan, accounting for 2.74% of total revenue.

5.21 million yuan, between this and the imagination of "overseas driving the recovery of vehicle business", there is obviously still a very long distance.

Cash flow turning positive also needs to be looked at separately: less money from customers, more "other cash"

Zotye's semi-annual report has another very beautiful number: net cash flow from operating activities was 89.17 million yuan, the same period last year was net outflow of 56.22 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 258.62%.

This change is, of course, better than continuing to lose blood.

But if the article only writes "cash flow significantly improved", it is still not enough.

The cash flow statement shows that cash received from selling goods and providing services in the first half of the year was 228.67 million yuan, lower than the 267.76 million yuan of the same period last year; what increased significantly was "cash received from other activities related to operating activities", increasing from 85.23 million yuan in the same period last year to 257.39 million yuan. The company also explicitly stated that the improvement in operating cash flow was mainly due to the increase in other cash received related to operations in this period.

So this cash flow turning positive also cannot simply be equated to "products are selling better".

Here it is not saying there is a problem with cash flow, but rather to distinguish the source. For a car company preparing to resume production, what should be the most reassuring cash? It is the sustained operating cash formed by consumers buying cars, dealers repaying funds, and auto parts customers placing orders, rather than propping up the numbers temporarily by relying on historical items and other payments.

This distinction is very important.

Figure 4 | Operating Status: New Cars and Production Lines Are Moving Forward, But Scaled Vehicle Sales Have Not Yet Returned

Cash and Costs | Cash Flow Turning Positive Does Not Equal Vehicle Business Already Restored Blood-Producing Ability

"No products" cannot be said to be dead: Zotye is indeed making a new car, but there is still a long way to go before mass production

Of course, if because Zotye currently has no scaled vehicle sales, directly saying it "has nothing", is also not objective enough.

The semi-annual report discloses that the new model has completed styling freeze by the end of June, engineering data release and most supplier designation work were completed synchronously, parts and vehicle testing are in progress; factory production line renovation and maintenance have also been launched, some molds and fixtures have entered the manufacturing stage. R&D investment in the first half of the year was 17.91 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 797.26%, and the increase in construction in progress was mainly related to the investment in new model machinery and equipment in the vehicle whole-vehicle sector.

These are real progress, should be written in.

But people in the automotive industry know how far is the distance from "styling freeze" to consumers being able to truly buy a car: engineering verification, regulatory certification, high-temperature/altitude/humidity tests, supply chain ramp-up, production line debugging, quality consistency, channel reconstruction, after-sales system, and then truly forming stable sales, missing a single link will not work.

Especially in the 2026 Chinese automotive market. Other car companies can launch more than a dozen new cars a year, intelligent driving, cabin, battery, motor, and electronics technology iteration is calculated by month, the price war has already fought to the bone. Zotye is not resuming production on a static track, but chasing a group of opponents that have already run out a few kilometers.

So R&D investment growth of 797% sounds very fierce, but the absolute amount is only 17.91 million yuan. Compared to the annual hundreds of billions of yuan R&D of leading car companies, this level cannot prove that technical catch-up is complete, it is more like a signal of restart.

What should truly be questioned is not "profit authenticity", but whether this kind of profit can happen again

I do not agree to negate the accounting authenticity of this 80.39 million yuan. It entered the report according to accounting standards, it is the real current profit.

But I also do not agree to shout "Zotye Revived" as soon as the loss turns to profit.

Because the evidence given by the financial report is exactly the opposite: normal operations still lost 152 million yuan; operating profit still lost 146 million yuan; vehicle business has no scaled production; overseas income is only 5.21 million yuan; main income is still parts and door industry; and the 234.5 million yuan non-operating income that decided the turnaround, the company itself has clearly said "is not sustainable".

There is even a detail worth continuing to watch: management expenses in the first half of the year were 124.2 million yuan, equivalent to about 65% of operating revenue in the same period; financial expenses were 31.85 million yuan. A company with only 190 million yuan of revenue in half a year, to carry such management and financial costs to redo the whole vehicle, the pressure will not be small.

So what Zotye truly deserves to look forward to in the next financial report is not another compensation payment appearing.

It is that outside of auto parts, real vehicle income starts to grow bigger; it is that overseas income changes from a few million yuan to hundreds of millions; it is that deducted non-recurring losses clearly narrow; it is that cash received from selling goods continues to increase; it is that a new car truly with 2026 competitiveness goes from PPT, styling freeze and test cars, to factories, stores and users' hands.

Only then can "Zotye Turnaround" be said, the gold content will be completely different.

Today's Zotye is more like completing a financial hemostasis and historical burden cleanup. It is still away from a real car company revival, by a car that can sell, can sell continuously, and can make money.

80.39 million yuan answered "why Zotye was profitable on the books this half-year".

But what the capital market should question more is the next sentence: "If there is no next compensation payment, what will it make money on?"

Data Verification Basis: Zotye Auto "2026 Semi-Annual Report" (Announcement Number 2026-061) and "2026 Semi-Annual Earnings Forecast". This article discusses net profit attributable to parent, deducted net profit, operating profit, non-operating income separately, to avoid using one-time gains to replace main business operation judgment.

Illustration Explanation: Charts and infographics in the text are based on Zotye Auto "2026 Semi-Annual Report", 2026 Semi-Annual Earnings Forecast and public information for organization and production, for use with the main text when releasing externally.