Back to the trend of the day: Chinese carmakers went bust, leaving hundreds of thousands of cars without repairs
Poly Rating · from the trend of the day

Chinese EV Companies Bankrupt in 2026: Owners Worst Off

Neta sold nearly 500,000 cars before it collapsed, and one owner waited more than six months for a reducer that now sells second-hand for almost 50% more.

  • No. 1: WM Motor (Weltmeister)
  • 10 places

01Final list

The leading AIs each built their own list of ten independently. Here is one result that is easy to check: every place has a reason, a source, and the list of AIs that included it.

Order: from most to least AI agreement.

A bright badge means this AI put the entry on its list. A dim badge means it did not.

  1. 1

    WM Motor (Weltmeister)

    About 100,000 cars sold (113,000 in one count). The app was dead from 2023 until a November 2025 relaunch, a bumper took six months, and an EX5 now sells for 20,000–40,000 yuan.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.

    In their lists: Claude: 3 · ChatGPT: 1 · Meta: 2 · Gemini: 2 · MiMo: 2 · Kimi: 4 · DeepSeek: 3 · Wenxin: 1

    What each AI noted 8
    • Claudeplace 3

      It was the largest Chinese EV maker to fail, with about 100,000 cars sold. It was bought back to life, but one owner's app was removed from the app stores and the screen is called 'a decoration'.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 1

      About 100,000 vehicles sold before insolvency turned a connected-car feature into a long-term dependency on a missing company.

      Source ↗
    • Metaplace 2

      100,000+ cars sold, servers went offline — stereos, odometers and remote AC failed

    • Geminiplace 2

      A fleet of 100,000 cars suffered sudden server blackouts that locked owners out of their air conditioning until grassroots hackers decoded the CAN bus.

    • MiMoplace 2

      More than 100,000 owners lost their entire app in 2023 — then in September 2025 a government-backed revival plan promised to restart the Wenzhou plant.

    • Kimiplace 4

      App resurrected in November 2025 — while a ¥127.6m receivable from the same group sold for ¥93,500.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 3

      113,000 cars — a new owner restored the app in Nov 2025, but a front bumper can still take six months to find.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 1

      200,000 cars on the road, app dead, service gone — the biggest orphan fleet in China

    8 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  2. 2

    Neta (Hozon Auto)

    Largest orphan fleet: nearly 500,000 sold and 400,000+ owners. Fewer than 50 of 300+ service points remain, and owners pay for data via WeChat. The ¥3bn rescue is still a draft.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.

    In their lists: Claude: 10 · ChatGPT: 2 · Meta: 1 · Gemini: 4 · MiMo: 1 · Kimi: 1 · DeepSeek: 4 · Wenxin: 3

    What each AI noted 8
    • Claudeplace 10

      More than 400,000 owners, under 50 of 300+ service points left, and one owner offered under 50,000 yuan for a 140,000-yuan car, a loss of nearly 70%.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 2

      Nearly half a million vehicles sold in six years made Neta's after-sales collapse a mass-market problem rather than a boutique-car problem.

    • Metaplace 1

      Nearly half a million cars on road, then 400,000 lost connected services when parent filed bankruptcy

      Source ↗
    • Geminiplace 4

      With nearly half a million cars on the road, its insolvencies turned the second-biggest budget EV maker into the world's most populous orphan fleet.

    • MiMoplace 1

      A 3 billion yuan rescue buys about 70.62% of the company that once left 400,000 owners offline — the biggest orphan fleet in China with a named saviour.

      Source ↗
    • Kimiplace 1

      Half a million orphans — but the only dead brand with a ¥3bn court-approved plan whose fine print includes rebuilding the workshops.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 4

      400,000 cars — the largest orphan fleet, and its connectivity was switched off before a rescue deal was signed.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 3

      Once China's top budget EV — 300,000+ cars now with fading dealer network

    8 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  3. 3

    HiPhi (Human Horizons)

    Fleet size is disputed: 4,520 sold in 2022, 20,000+ delivered overall per 36Kr. A 680,000-yuan HiPhi X now trades at 150,000–200,000, and owners hunt parts on Xianyu.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.

    In their lists: Claude: 9 · ChatGPT: 3 · Meta: 3 · Gemini: 1 · MiMo: 4 · Kimi: 5 · DeepSeek: 5 · Wenxin: 2

    What each AI noted 8
    • Claudeplace 9

      Only 4,520 cars sold in 2022, and owners now buy parts on the second-hand platform Xianyu and repair cars themselves.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 3

      A car advertised at 570,000 yuan could become a scavenger hunt for specialist parts when a single repair was needed.

      Source ↗
    • Metaplace 3

      Luxury 680,000 yuan car now trades 150,000-200,000 yuan — 70%+ value loss in 2 years

    • Geminiplace 1

      Founder livestreaming funded cloud servers to keep digital doors opening, saving 20,000 luxury tech flagships from instant obsolescence.

    • MiMoplace 4

      A 339,000 yuan flagship cleared at 119,800 yuan — yet a Canadian investor's 69.8% stake and a draft rescue plan kept after-sales on the table.

      Source ↗
    • Kimiplace 5

      The 'Chinese Rolls-Royce' whose gull-wing doors now have no spare parts — while a Canadian investor circles the corpse.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 5

      ~17,000 cars — a 680,000-yuan flagship now trades at 150,000–200,000, and one headlight repair was quoted at 57,000 yuan.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 2

      Luxury EV with 70,000 cars — factory restarted but owner support still fractured

    8 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  4. 4

    Aiways

    Fewer than 15,000 sold worldwide, about 6,000 of them in Europe. It quit China in 2024, then its German service partner ATU walked away on 31 December 2025.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.

    In their lists: Claude: 6 · ChatGPT: 4 · Meta: 5 · Gemini: 5 · MiMo: 9 · Kimi: 6 · DeepSeek: 6 · Wenxin: 6

    What each AI noted 8
    • Claudeplace 6

      In Europe it relied on partners such as ATU workshops and a 600-part Dutch warehouse. Then its German sales partner left and owners were left asking for help in a 2,700-member Facebook group.

    • ChatGPTplace 4

      An internationally marketed EV became a cross-border parts and software risk when the company behind it withdrew.

      Source ↗
    • Metaplace 5

      Less than 15,000 sold worldwide, Europe arm sold ∼6,000 — production stopped Feb 2023

    • Geminiplace 5

      European distributors kept warehouse parts flowing to German and French buyers while domestic Chinese service stations quietly dissolved.

    • MiMoplace 9

      Together with WM Motor it drew more than 100,000 complaints about voided warranties and nowhere to repair.

      Source ↗
    • Kimiplace 6

      Abandoned its home market — and kept its European service desks open.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 6

      Service partner ATU walked away on 31 Dec 2025 — no diagnostics, no parts, and no new German registrations since July 2024.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 6

      Export dream died — 10,000 cars worldwide, EU spare-parts loophole found

    8 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  5. 5

    Hengchi (Evergrande Auto)

    Only 1,389 delivered, and nothing was left behind: no rescuer, no network. A shop warned that opening a faulty part without the maker's permission could break the law.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.

    In their lists: Claude: 8 · ChatGPT: 5 · Meta: 6 · Gemini: 8 · MiMo: 8 · Kimi: 10 · DeepSeek: 8 · Wenxin: 5

    What each AI noted 8
    • Claudeplace 8

      Only 1,700 cars were ever built. A repair shop told an owner that opening the faulty part without the maker's permission 'could be breaking the law'.

    • ChatGPTplace 5

      A specialist component that an ordinary workshop could not freely dismantle illustrates how legal uncertainty can compound a mechanical fault.

    • Metaplace 6

      110 billion yuan invested, only 1,389 cars delivered — bankruptcy liquidation filed Sep 2024

    • Geminiplace 8

      Billions in real estate capital built state-of-the-art factories that produced barely 1,400 cars before leaving buyers without a single licensed mechanic.

    • MiMoplace 8

      Only 1,429 owners — the smallest fleet with a full 'orphan car' label and no rescuer in sight.

      Source ↗
    • Kimiplace 10

      About 1,000 cars delivered and no service network ever built — owners patch their six-figure EVs with tape.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 8

      1,389 deliveries — a fleet so small it is almost a collector’s item, with virtually no after-sales footprint.

    • Wenxinplace 5

      Evergrande's car dream — 1,000 cars delivered, then total silence

    8 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  6. 6

    Fisker Ocean (US, comparison)

    Fleet counts clash: about 4,700 delivered versus about 11,000 owners. The cloud died in April 2025, owners rebuilt phone-as-key themselves, and an Edmunds Ocean resold for $10,000.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, Wenxin. Did not include: DeepSeek.

    In their lists: Claude: 2 · ChatGPT: 6 · Meta: 8 · Gemini: 3 · MiMo: 5 · Kimi: 3 · Wenxin: 4

    What each AI noted 7
    • Claudeplace 2

      About 11,000 Oceans lost their maker, yet owners won access to the FAST diagnostic tool and a five-year cloud plan. Whether that deal held is disputed.

      Source ↗
    • ChatGPTplace 6

      When Fisker's cloud failed in April 2025, owners organized their own route back to phone-as-key and software support.

      Source ↗
    • Metaplace 8

      Built 10,142 Oceans, delivered ∼4,700 — owners formed 4,000-member open-source car company to keep them alive

      Source ↗
    • Geminiplace 3

      Grassroots drivers formed the Fisker Owners Association to purchase server access rights and diagnostic code licenses directly from liquidation courts.

    • MiMoplace 5

      Edmunds'69,000𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔−𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑓𝑜𝑟69,000long−termersoldfor10,000 — while a paid 'Ocean Loop' subscription is what still keeps owners' cars connected.

      Source ↗
    • Kimiplace 3

      The bankrupt brand whose owners went to court and took the software keys themselves.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 4

      Bankrupt in Delaware — 20,000 cars with Magna stepping in as partial rescuer

    7 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  7. 7

    Lordstown Endurance (US, comparison)

    Smallest real fleet: six trucks sold by March 2023 (37 delivered in another count). Three recalls were open at the collapse, and parts are still listed at NAPA.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, Wenxin. Did not include: DeepSeek.

    In their lists: Claude: 4 · ChatGPT: 7 · Meta: 9 · Gemini: 9 · MiMo: 6 · Kimi: 9 · Wenxin: 8

    What each AI noted 7
    • Claudeplace 4

      A small fleet of pickups kept alive by ordinary NAPA parts listings and fleet-service deals, with no evidence of an app lockout.

    • ChatGPTplace 7

      A commercial-pickup niche offers fewer easy substitutes when a proprietary drivetrain or control component fails.

    • Metaplace 9

      Built 56-80 Endurance trucks, delivered 37, sold only 6 through March 2023 before Chapter 11

    • Geminiplace 9

      A commercial fleet truck with in-wheel hub motors that no local commercial garage could calibrate once the Ohio assembly line shut down.

    • MiMoplace 6

      The recall covered exactly 19 trucks — a fleet so small that one asset buyer could plausibly look after every owner.

      Source ↗
    • Kimiplace 9

      Six trucks delivered, three recalls, one IP auction — the smallest orphan fleet with the sharpest edges.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 8

      Pickup truck maker's Endurance — 200 trucks made, Foxconn buy left owners in limbo

    7 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  8. 8

    Jiyue (Ji Yue, Baidu-Geely)

    About 14,055 sold, and the best-handled exit: Geely's Lynk & Co kept the lifetime warranty, servers and repairs. Still, a 300,000-yuan Jiyue 01 clears at 89,000.

    Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek. Did not include: Gemini, Wenxin.

    In their lists: Claude: 1 · ChatGPT: 9 · Meta: 4 · MiMo: 3 · Kimi: 2 · DeepSeek: 1

    What each AI noted 6
    • Claudeplace 1

      About 70% of its parts reportedly come from Geely, and Geely took over service and moved the servers onto its own infrastructure. It is the nearest thing to a managed shutdown.

    • ChatGPTplace 9

      A joint venture backed by Geely and Baidu shows why a failed brand can have a different fallback path from a stand-alone startup.

    • Metaplace 4

      Baidu poured 8 billion yuan for only 14,000 cars — dealers shut overnight

      Source ↗
    • MiMoplace 3

      Fewer than 10,000 cars exist, but both parents stayed: shareholders kept after-sales alive while the venture slid into pre-restructuring.

    • Kimiplace 2

      Died with a godfather: Geely's Lynk & Co kept the service bays open and the OTA updates flowing.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 1

      14,055 cars — the only orphan fleet where the co-owners kept the lifetime warranty valid and folded the servers into Geely’s network.

    6 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  9. 9

    Hycan (GAC-NIO)

    About 37,600 sold (one source), and GAC Aion took over servicing: a parent absorbing the orphan instead of walking away.

    Included it: ChatGPT, Meta, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek. Did not include: Claude, Gemini, Wenxin.

    In their lists: ChatGPT: see list · Meta: 7 · MiMo: 10 · Kimi: 8 · DeepSeek: 2

    What each AI noted 5
    • ChatGPT

      Named differently in its own list: open the full list.

      see list
    • Metaplace 7

      Among 23 stopped brands leaving 850,000 orphan cars — dealers closed, no battery pack access

      Source ↗
    • MiMoplace 10

      One of the 23 names on the collapsed list — app discontinued, OTA stopped, and no announced saviour.

    • Kimiplace 8

      GAC-and-NIO-rooted and on the 23-brand list — no published rescue, but a state-backed parent that keeps parts flowing longer than most.

      Source ↗
    • DeepSeekplace 2

      ~37,600 cars — GAC Aion took over after-sales, a rare case of a parent absorbing the orphan rather than walking away.

      Source ↗
    5 AIs put it here
    Source ↗
  10. 10

    Leiting (Levdeo)

    30,000+ owners (one source; another estimate counts 150,000 low-speed cars) see 'authorization expired' on screen after the software supplier went unpaid.

    Included it: Gemini, DeepSeek, Wenxin. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, MiMo, Kimi.

    In their lists: Gemini: 6 · DeepSeek: 7 · Wenxin: 9

    What each AI noted 3
    • Geminiplace 6

      Transitioning from low-speed neighborhood golf carts to highway cars proved fatal, but its simplistic hardware made backyard mechanical repairs easy.

    • DeepSeekplace 7

      30,000 owners — the car screen literally says “authorization expired” after the software supplier was left unpaid.

      Source ↗
    • Wenxinplace 9

      150,000 tiny EVs sold — cheap cars, cheaper support now

    3 AIs put it here
    Source ↗

More about the top three ↓

02More about the top three

The ranking is above. Here is more about the three places at the top: what they are, why they are here, and what is worth knowing.

The counts are not on the same basis: WM Motor's is about 100,000 sold (113,000 in one count), Neta's is cars sold, and HiPhi's size is disputed (4,520 sold in 2022 versus 20,000+ delivered overall).

1WM Motor (Weltmeister)

No. 1 — WM Motor (Weltmeister). On the lists of 8 of 8 AIs; median place there: 2. Owners were cut off the longest: the app was dead for two years, parts took months, and resale prices are low.

20210908 Weltmeister, Heytea Go and McDonald's at New World Department Store (cropped)
Windmemories · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know

  • WM Motor's Huanggang plant built only about 10,000 cars in 2022, against a planned capacity of 150,000. So the factory ran at under a tenth of its target before the company collapsed.

    Source ↗
What it is
A Chinese electric car maker that went bankrupt, then was bought back to life.
Its edge
Its app stayed dead longest, from 2023 until the November 2025 relaunch.
Who should know
Useful for anyone wondering what happens to a car's app and parts after a bankruptcy.
  • Cars sold before collapseAbout 100,000 cars sold
  • Founded2015
  • HeadquartersShanghai

Wikipedia · Wikidata

Did you know

  • WM Motor also ran its own charging app, GETnGO. By October 2019 it had registered 200,000 public chargers, partly through partners such as State Grid. The car app, though, died when bankruptcy hit.

    Source ↗
History

  • In 2023, a planned $2.02 billion takeover fell through; weeks later, WM Motor entered pre-restructuring after years of losses. The company said it hoped new investors could help it “achieve its rebirth.” — (voice only)

    Source ↗
Keep in mind

  • Rest of World reported no firmware update since the October 2023 bankruptcy filing. The WM Motor app was no longer in Chinese app stores, and some owners could not use basic features like in-car entertainment. The article dates from 2024.

    Source ↗
Where to go further

  • Start with the sales table. It lists yearly sales from 2019 to 2023, and 2023 shows 0. Then read the app section to see how owners lost access after the bankruptcy filing.

    Source ↗
Compare the top three ↓

2Neta (Hozon Auto)

No. 2 — Neta (Hozon Auto). On the lists of 8 of 8 AIs; median place there: 2.5. It has the biggest group of stranded owners, with most service points gone, and a rescue plan that is still only a draft.

Did you know

  • Court records from March 2025 showed Neta's affiliated company accounts held less than 500 yuan combined (about 69 US dollars). Yet 47 entities reportedly showed interest in rescuing it, each needing a 50 million yuan deposit.

    Source ↗
What it is
A budget Chinese electric car brand whose parent company collapsed.
Its edge
It left the most owners behind: nearly 500,000 cars sold and 400,000+ owners.
Who should know
Useful for anyone who wants to see how a mass-market car brand can leave owners with no support.
  • Cars sold before collapseNearly 500,000 cars sold
  • Founded2014
  • HeadquartersZhejiang

Wikipedia · Wikidata

Why it is here

  • Neta’s dealers called for the after-sales system to be restored for about 400,000 existing customers, showing the scale of the support problem. — (voice only)

    Source ↗

  • More than 20 representatives from a network of over 300 authorized dealers went to Neta’s factory to demand payment and action. — (voice only)

    Source ↗
Did you know

  • Neta's sales fell from 152,000 units in 2022 to 64,549 in 2024. Reported unpaid supplier debts exceed 6 billion yuan, and cumulative losses passed 18.3 billion yuan.

    Source ↗
History

  • In 2024, Neta’s Tongxiang factory reportedly stopped production for half a month as the company cut salaries and faced falling sales—a sharp turn for a brand whose best year had been 2022. — (voice only)

    Source ↗
Keep in mind

  • 36Kr says Neta had over 300 service points, and fewer than 50 remained by 2025. The app has largely failed, and owners reportedly pay a few dozen yuan a month for data. The rescue plan has been delayed repeatedly.

    Source ↗

  • One Nezha U owner (a Hozon brand) paid 140,000 yuan for the car and was offered under 50,000 yuan when selling. She also had to pay for warranty repairs herself, because the dealer could not reach the maker.

    Source ↗
What people say

  • What about the promise of free data for three years when I bought the car? — Unnamed Neta owner, quoted by Yicai Global

    Source ↗
Where to go further

  • Read the deal first: a CNY 3 billion plan for a 70.6% stake, with a promise to restore after-sales networks for the existing 400,000 Neta owners. It is a draft from a September creditors meeting.

    Source ↗
Meta, MiMo, Kimi put it first. What they saw in it

  • Meta: Nearly half a million cars on road, then 400,000 lost connected services when parent filed bankruptcy

  • MiMo: A 3 billion yuan rescue buys about 70.62% of the company that once left 400,000 owners offline — the biggest orphan fleet in China with a named saviour.

  • Kimi: Half a million orphans — but the only dead brand with a ¥3bn court-approved plan whose fine print includes rebuilding the workshops.

Compare the top three ↓

3HiPhi (Human Horizons)

No. 3 — HiPhi (Human Horizons). On the lists of 8 of 8 AIs; median place there: 3.5. Its fleet is smaller, but owners lost much of their car's value and have to hunt for parts and fix cars themselves.

Did you know

  • HiPhi went from founding to a first car fast: Human Horizons was founded in 2017 and launched the HiPhi X in 2020. Then in May 2024 a firm called iAuto Group pledged 1 billion US dollars. The report doubted the money would arrive.

    Source ↗
What it is
A luxury Chinese electric car brand, nicknamed the 'Chinese Rolls-Royce'.
Its edge
Its resale fall is the steepest: a 680,000-yuan car now trades at 150,000–200,000.
Who should know
Useful for anyone who wants to see what a bankruptcy does to an expensive car's value and repairs.
  • Cars sold before collapse20,000+ delivered overall
  • Founded2019
  • HeadquartersShanghai

Wikipedia · Wikidata

Why it is here

  • A HiPhi X owner said he would likely have to buy spare parts online for his 570,000-yuan car, a sign of the repair risk owners face. — (voice only)

    Source ↗

  • Rules call for parts to remain available for at least 10 years after a model stops being made, but enforcement can be difficult—a concern for HiPhi owners seeking repairs. — (voice only)

    Source ↗
Keep in mind

  • 36Kr says owners are "self-rescuing": they repair cars themselves and look for spare parts on Xianyu. Some were reportedly rejected by several insurers and could only buy compulsory traffic insurance and third-party liability cover.

    Source ↗

  • Gasgoo's draft restructuring plan lists 2,462 unsecured creditors with claims of up to 12.476 billion yuan. Only two possible investors were still in talks. The plan is said to cover after-sales support, but gives no details.

    Source ↗
Where to go further

  • Start with the timeline. HiPhi X went on sale in September 2020, and deliveries to owners began on 8 May 2021. Then see how the company cut costs in 2024 and filed for bankruptcy in August 2024.

    Source ↗
Gemini put it first. What they saw in it

  • Gemini: Founder livestreaming funded cloud servers to keep digital doors opening, saving 20,000 luxury tech flagships from instant obsolescence.

Compare the top three ↓

The top three side by side

WM Motor (Weltmeister)Neta (Hozon Auto)HiPhi (Human Horizons)
In the AIs' lists8 / 88 / 88 / 8
Cars sold before collapseAbout 100,000 cars soldNearly 500,000 cars sold20,000+ delivered overall
Founded201520142019
HeadquartersShanghaiZhejiangShanghai
Put first byChatGPT, WenxinMeta, MiMo, KimiGemini

Places with the same number of AIs are ordered by their average place in the AIs' own lists.

More ratings

03Worth knowing

What the AIs noticed while building the list.

The headline counts measure different things. About 160,000 stranded owners (2024), about 850,000 cars sold by 23 halted makers (May 2026) and 450,000+ cars from 30+ brands in a later dealers survey are different measures at different dates, not one trend.

Noticed by:
Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek. Did not include: Gemini, Wenxin.
Source ↗

The cleanest exits had a parent network to fall back on. Jiyue owners go to Lynk & Co and Hycan owners to GAC Aion, while stand-alone startups left owners on their own.

Noticed by:
Included it: Claude, ChatGPT, Kimi, DeepSeek. Did not include: Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Wenxin.
Source ↗

A third party held the on-switch. Neta cars lost their internet connection when the telematics provider cut service over unpaid bills, and owners now buy data plans to keep remote functions.

Noticed by:
Included it: ChatGPT, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek. Did not include: Claude, Meta, Gemini, Wenxin.
Source ↗

In insolvency the '10-year parts' promise becomes ordinary debt. WM Motor reportedly owed about 25 billion yuan against 9.6 billion in assets, so owners queue behind secured creditors.

Noticed by:
Included it: Meta, DeepSeek. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, Wenxin.
Source ↗

04How we counted

In plain words, no formulas.

1The question

Top 10 Bankrupt Chinese EV Brands by How Their Owners Were Left: Cars on the Road, Care After the Collapse, and Resale Value

2Why this topic

Sales tables show how big each brand was, and depreciation reports show market averages. Only this ranking puts fleet size next to what owners actually got afterwards, so the reader can see which collapses hurt people most and which rescues worked.

3Where it applies

China first (WM Motor, Neta, HiPhi, Aiways, Hengchi and others among the 23 stopped carmakers), with Fisker, Arrival and Lordstown for comparison

4What we looked at

  • Cars sold and still on the road for each collapsed brand
  • Whether a rescuer, new investor or dealer network took over after-sales support
  • Whether the app, over-the-air updates and remote functions still work
  • Whether independent shops can read error codes and open the battery pack
  • How long spare parts take to arrive, if they can be found at all
  • How far used-car prices fell after the collapse
  • Liji (Rize) Consulting, cited by Securities Times via 36Kr — 23 Chinese NEV makers bankrupt, liquidating, restructuring or halted by May 2026, with about 850,000 cars sold
  • China Automobile Dealers Association, via Rest of World — Earlier 2024 estimate of about 160,000 owners stranded; WM Motor and HiPhi sales; app and firmware status

5Who ranked

The leading AIs, each building its own list of ten independently and naming a source for every place: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, MiMo, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.

6How the places were set

The same entry written differently by different AIs was counted as one. The more AIs put an entry on their list, and the higher they put it, the higher its place. "AI agreement" shows how many of the AIs had it on their own list. Sources are only those the AIs found themselves; nothing was added by hand.

05Each AI's own list

🇺🇸 Claude10 places · 3 notes

The same question, answered by Claude alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Jiyue (Baidu/Geely, China 2024)

    About 70% of its parts reportedly come from Geely, and Geely took over service and moved the servers onto its own infrastructure. It is the nearest thing to a managed shutdown.

  2. 2
    Fisker Ocean (USA/Europe, 2024)

    About 11,000 Oceans lost their maker, yet owners won access to the FAST diagnostic tool and a five-year cloud plan. Whether that deal held is disputed.

    Source ↗
  3. 3
    WM Motor (Weltmeister, China 2023)

    It was the largest Chinese EV maker to fail, with about 100,000 cars sold. It was bought back to life, but one owner's app was removed from the app stores and the screen is called 'a decoration'.

    Source ↗
  4. 4
    Lordstown Endurance (USA, 2023)

    A small fleet of pickups kept alive by ordinary NAPA parts listings and fleet-service deals, with no evidence of an app lockout.

  5. 5
    Byton (China, named among the 23)

    It is named by Rize Consulting among the 23 halted makers, with less than 15% of raised funds going to R&D.

  6. 6
    Aiways U5 (China/Europe)

    In Europe it relied on partners such as ATU workshops and a 600-part Dutch warehouse. Then its German sales partner left and owners were left asking for help in a 2,700-member Facebook group.

  7. 7
    Arrival electric van (UK, 2024)

    The administrators sold the platform, software and IP, but I found nothing saying a buyer took on servicing for vans already delivered.

    Source ↗
  8. 8
    Hengchi (Evergrande NEV, China)

    Only 1,700 cars were ever built. A repair shop told an owner that opening the faulty part without the maker's permission 'could be breaking the law'.

  9. 9
    HiPhi (Human Horizons, China 2024)

    Only 4,520 cars sold in 2022, and owners now buy parts on the second-hand platform Xianyu and repair cars themselves.

    Source ↗
  10. 10
    Neta / Nezha (Hozon, China 2025)

    More than 400,000 owners, under 50 of 300+ service points left, and one owner offered under 50,000 yuan for a 140,000-yuan car, a loss of nearly 70%.

    Source ↗

What Claude noticed

Neta is the biggest orphan fleet: more than 400,000 owners, yet fewer than 50 of over 300 service points were left by 2025.

Source ↗

Fisker's owners built their own rescue. A nonprofit owners association retained a law firm and negotiated access to the diagnostic tools and software.

Source ↗

A reviving brand does not guarantee care. WM Motor has a new owner and 90+ outlets, yet a 2021 W6 owner said in March 2026 that no local network had been set up and nobody had contacted them.

Source ↗
🇺🇸 ChatGPT10 places · 2 notes

The same question, answered by ChatGPT alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    WM Motor (China, 2023–2026)

    About 100,000 vehicles sold before insolvency turned a connected-car feature into a long-term dependency on a missing company.

    Source ↗
  2. 2
    Neta / Hozon Auto (China, 2024–2026)

    Nearly half a million vehicles sold in six years made Neta's after-sales collapse a mass-market problem rather than a boutique-car problem.

  3. 3
    HiPhi / Human Horizons (China, 2024–2026)

    A car advertised at 570,000 yuan could become a scavenger hunt for specialist parts when a single repair was needed.

    Source ↗
  4. 4
    Aiways (China, 2023–2026)

    An internationally marketed EV became a cross-border parts and software risk when the company behind it withdrew.

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    Hengchi / Evergrande New Energy Vehicle (China, 2024–2026)

    A specialist component that an ordinary workshop could not freely dismantle illustrates how legal uncertainty can compound a mechanical fault.

  6. 6
    Fisker Ocean (United States, 2024–2026)

    When Fisker's cloud failed in April 2025, owners organized their own route back to phone-as-key and software support.

    Source ↗
  7. 7
    Lordstown Motors Endurance (United States, 2023–2026)

    A commercial-pickup niche offers fewer easy substitutes when a proprietary drivetrain or control component fails.

  8. 8
    Arrival (United Kingdom, 2024)

    A company once valued at US$15 billion collapsed without establishing a substantial working-vehicle fleet to support.

    Source ↗
  9. 9
    Ji Yue / Jidu (China, 2024–2026)

    A joint venture backed by Geely and Baidu shows why a failed brand can have a different fallback path from a stand-alone startup.

  10. 10
    Hozon Auto's Neta versus the rescued-support model (China, 2026)

    A failed manufacturer's cars need not become unsupported if an actual service operator, rather than just a new investor, accepts responsibility.

What ChatGPT noticed

The headline numbers describe different things: the 160,000 figure is an earlier estimate of stranded owners, while the later 850,000 figure counts vehicles associated with 23 companies that had entered bankruptcy, liquidation or complete operational shutdown. Treating them as the same denominator creates a false trend.

Source ↗

Software support can be a separate failure from physical repair. WM Motor owners faced app and firmware concerns, while Fisker owners developed their own replacement software and parts initiatives after cloud services disappeared.

Source ↗
🇺🇸 Meta10 places · 3 notes

The same question, answered by Meta alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Neta Auto (Hozon Auto)

    Nearly half a million cars on road, then 400,000 lost connected services when parent filed bankruptcy

    Source ↗
  2. 2
    WM Motor (Weltmeister)

    100,000+ cars sold, servers went offline — stereos, odometers and remote AC failed

  3. 3
    HiPhi (Human Horizons)

    Luxury 680,000 yuan car now trades 150,000-200,000 yuan — 70%+ value loss in 2 years

  4. 4
    Jiyue / Jidu (Geely-Baidu JV)

    Baidu poured 8 billion yuan for only 14,000 cars — dealers shut overnight

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    Aiways

    Less than 15,000 sold worldwide, Europe arm sold ∼6,000 — production stopped Feb 2023

  6. 6
    Hengchi (Evergrande Auto)

    110 billion yuan invested, only 1,389 cars delivered — bankruptcy liquidation filed Sep 2024

  7. 7
    Hycan (GAC-NIO JV)

    Among 23 stopped brands leaving 850,000 orphan cars — dealers closed, no battery pack access

    Source ↗
  8. 8
    Fisker Inc. (USA)

    Built 10,142 Oceans, delivered ∼4,700 — owners formed 4,000-member open-source car company to keep them alive

    Source ↗
  9. 9
    Lordstown Motors (USA)

    Built 56-80 Endurance trucks, delivered 37, sold only 6 through March 2023 before Chapter 11

  10. 10
    Arrival (UK)

    Once valued $13B with 20,000 UPS order, went bankrupt with zero sales — assets sold to Canoo

What Meta noticed

850,000 orphaned cars is 5x the earlier 160,000 estimate — the count jumped from China Automobile Dealers Association 160k in early 2026 to 23 brands and 850k by May 2026

Source ↗

Neta alone accounts for almost half of all orphan cars — 400,000 of the 850,000 lost cloud when Hozon filed

Source ↗

Chinese law requires 10-year parts after discontinuation, but in bankruptcy it becomes unsecured debt — WM Motor owes 25B yuan with only 9.6B assets, judicial advance of 34.24M yuan needed just to keep servers on

Source ↗
🇺🇸 Gemini10 places

The same question, answered by Gemini alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    HiPhi (Human Horizons)

    Founder livestreaming funded cloud servers to keep digital doors opening, saving 20,000 luxury tech flagships from instant obsolescence.

  2. 2
    WM Motor (Weltmeister)

    A fleet of 100,000 cars suffered sudden server blackouts that locked owners out of their air conditioning until grassroots hackers decoded the CAN bus.

  3. 3
    Fisker (Ocean)

    Grassroots drivers formed the Fisker Owners Association to purchase server access rights and diagnostic code licenses directly from liquidation courts.

  4. 4
    Neta (Hozon Auto)

    With nearly half a million cars on the road, its insolvencies turned the second-biggest budget EV maker into the world's most populous orphan fleet.

  5. 5
    Aiways

    European distributors kept warehouse parts flowing to German and French buyers while domestic Chinese service stations quietly dissolved.

  6. 6
    Levdeo

    Transitioning from low-speed neighborhood golf carts to highway cars proved fatal, but its simplistic hardware made backyard mechanical repairs easy.

  7. 7
    Enovate

    High-end multi-screen dashboards went dark when cellular agreements lapsed, leaving fewer than 15,000 drivers with unreadable battery management systems.

  8. 8
    Hengchi (Evergrande Auto)

    Billions in real estate capital built state-of-the-art factories that produced barely 1,400 cars before leaving buyers without a single licensed mechanic.

  9. 9
    Lordstown Motors

    A commercial fleet truck with in-wheel hub motors that no local commercial garage could calibrate once the Ohio assembly line shut down.

  10. 10
    Arrival

    The micro-factory pioneer burned $1.5 billion and collapsed before delivering production delivery vans, stranding only prototype trial fleets.

🇨🇳 MiMo10 places · 4 notes

The same question, answered by MiMo alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Neta(Nezha / Hozon Auto)

    A 3 billion yuan rescue buys about 70.62% of the company that once left 400,000 owners offline — the biggest orphan fleet in China with a named saviour.

    Source ↗
  2. 2
    WMMotor (Weltmeister)

    More than 100,000 owners lost their entire app in 2023 — then in September 2025 a government-backed revival plan promised to restart the Wenzhou plant.

  3. 3
    JiYue (Jiyue / Baidu-Geely)

    Fewer than 10,000 cars exist, but both parents stayed: shareholders kept after-sales alive while the venture slid into pre-restructuring.

  4. 4
    HiPhi(Human Horizons)

    A 339,000 yuan flagship cleared at 119,800 yuan — yet a Canadian investor's 69.8% stake and a draft rescue plan kept after-sales on the table.

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    FiskerOcean (United States)

    Edmunds'69,000𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔−𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑓𝑜𝑟69,000long−termersoldfor10,000 — while a paid 'Ocean Loop' subscription is what still keeps owners' cars connected.

    Source ↗
  6. 6
    Lordstown Endurance (United States)

    The recall covered exactly 19 trucks — a fleet so small that one asset buyer could plausibly look after every owner.

    Source ↗
  7. 7
    Arrival (United Kingdom)

    A 13 billion valuation ended in administration with 172 UK jobs cut — and almost no consumer cars to strand.

  8. 8
    Hengchi (Evergrande, China)

    Only 1,429 owners — the smallest fleet with a full 'orphan car' label and no rescuer in sight.

    Source ↗
  9. 9
    Aiways (China)

    Together with WM Motor it drew more than 100,000 complaints about voided warranties and nowhere to repair.

    Source ↗
  10. 10
    Hycan (China)

    One of the 23 names on the collapsed list — app discontinued, OTA stopped, and no announced saviour.

What MiMo noticed

By May 2026 roughly 30% of China's NEV makers — 23 companies — had gone through bankruptcy or effectively stopped, leaving about 850,000 cars on the road with no maker behind them.

Source ↗

Resale collapse is priced in cash: a WM EX5 trades at 20,000–40,000 yuan, and a Jiyue 01 that listed above 300,000 yuan clears for 89,000 yuan.

Source ↗

400,000 Neta owners lost their car's internet connection at once when a telematics provider cut service over unpaid bills — a third party, not the car, held the on-switch.

Source ↗

Fisker's collapse produced an odd rescue market: used Oceans sold for 2,500–16,500 in bulk, and a paid subscription now replaces the dead automaker's app.

Source ↗
🇨🇳 Kimi10 places · 3 notes

The same question, answered by Kimi alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Neta (Hozon, China)

    Half a million orphans — but the only dead brand with a ¥3bn court-approved plan whose fine print includes rebuilding the workshops.

    Source ↗
  2. 2
    Ji Yue (China)

    Died with a godfather: Geely's Lynk & Co kept the service bays open and the OTA updates flowing.

    Source ↗
  3. 3
    Fisker Ocean (US)

    The bankrupt brand whose owners went to court and took the software keys themselves.

    Source ↗
  4. 4
    WM Motor / Weltmeister (China)

    App resurrected in November 2025 — while a ¥127.6m receivable from the same group sold for ¥93,500.

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    HiPhi (Human Horizons, China)

    The 'Chinese Rolls-Royce' whose gull-wing doors now have no spare parts — while a Canadian investor circles the corpse.

    Source ↗
  6. 6
    Aiways (China)

    Abandoned its home market — and kept its European service desks open.

    Source ↗
  7. 7
    Byton (China)

    Went bust before its first M-Byte delivery — the bankruptcy with almost no orphans.

  8. 8
    Hycan (China)

    GAC-and-NIO-rooted and on the 23-brand list — no published rescue, but a state-backed parent that keeps parts flowing longer than most.

    Source ↗
  9. 9
    Lordstown Endurance (US)

    Six trucks delivered, three recalls, one IP auction — the smallest orphan fleet with the sharpest edges.

    Source ↗
  10. 10
    Hengchi (Evergrande Auto, China)

    About 1,000 cars delivered and no service network ever built — owners patch their six-figure EVs with tape.

    Source ↗

What Kimi noticed

The orphan count quintupled in about two years: an earlier dealers-association estimate put stranded owners at ~160,000, while the May 2026 industry count stands at 23 stopped makers and ~850,000 orphaned electric and hybrid cars.

Source ↗

Ji Yue is the control case: Geely's Lynk & Co took over repairs, road rescue and OTA — proving that after a collapse, continuity 'is not a technical problem, just a question of whether anyone is willing to stay responsible.'

Source ↗

Fisker owners achieved what Chinese owners could not: through bankruptcy court, a 2,000-member owners' association gained access to the source code and cloud needed to keep ~20,000 Oceans updated.

Source ↗
🇨🇳 DeepSeek10 places · 3 notes

The same question, answered by DeepSeek alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    Jiyue (极越)

    14,055 cars — the only orphan fleet where the co-owners kept the lifetime warranty valid and folded the servers into Geely’s network.

  2. 2
    Hycan (合创)

    ~37,600 cars — GAC Aion took over after-sales, a rare case of a parent absorbing the orphan rather than walking away.

    Source ↗
  3. 3
    WM Motor (威马)

    113,000 cars — a new owner restored the app in Nov 2025, but a front bumper can still take six months to find.

    Source ↗
  4. 4
    Neta (哪吒)

    400,000 cars — the largest orphan fleet, and its connectivity was switched off before a rescue deal was signed.

    Source ↗
  5. 5
    HiPhi (高合)

    ~17,000 cars — a 680,000-yuan flagship now trades at 150,000–200,000, and one headlight repair was quoted at 57,000 yuan.

    Source ↗
  6. 6
    Aiways (爱驰)

    Service partner ATU walked away on 31 Dec 2025 — no diagnostics, no parts, and no new German registrations since July 2024.

    Source ↗
  7. 7
    Leiting (雷丁)

    30,000 owners — the car screen literally says “authorization expired” after the software supplier was left unpaid.

    Source ↗
  8. 8
    Hengchi (恒驰)

    1,389 deliveries — a fleet so small it is almost a collector’s item, with virtually no after-sales footprint.

  9. 9
    Enovate (天际)

    ~7,100 cars — the company went bankrupt before the first warranty cycle ended, leaving no rescue network.

  10. 10
    Yundu (云度)

    3,742 cars sold in 2023–25 — shareholders quit one after another, leaving owners in limbo.

    Source ↗

What DeepSeek noticed

The 850,000 orphan cars are almost a full year of sales for a major Chinese automaker — and the 23 collapsed makers are nearly 30% of the industry, not a fringe.

Source ↗

The app dies before the car does: WM’s app vanished, Neta’s 400,000 owners lost connectivity, and some now pay 5.9 yuan a month just to keep the car online.

Source ↗

The “10-year parts” promise is a paper promise in insolvency: owners rank as ordinary creditors behind secured claims, so the legal duty rarely survives the bankruptcy.

Source ↗
🇨🇳 Wenxin10 places · 1 notes

The same question, answered by Wenxin alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.

  1. 1
    WM Motor (Wei Ma) China 2023

    200,000 cars on the road, app dead, service gone — the biggest orphan fleet in China

  2. 2
    HiPhi (Dinghao/Human Horizons) China 2024

    Luxury EV with 70,000 cars — factory restarted but owner support still fractured

  3. 3
    Neta (Hozon Auto) China 2024

    Once China's top budget EV — 300,000+ cars now with fading dealer network

  4. 4
    Fisker (US/Global) 2024

    Bankrupt in Delaware — 20,000 cars with Magna stepping in as partial rescuer

  5. 5
    Hengchi (Evergrande NEV) China 2023

    Evergrande's car dream — 1,000 cars delivered, then total silence

  6. 6
    Aiways (Aiways Auto) China/Europe 2023

    Export dream died — 10,000 cars worldwide, EU spare-parts loophole found

  7. 7
    Arrival (UK/US) 2023

    Van-maker entered administration — 500+ vans, no maker, but UK law keeps parts flowing

  8. 8
    Lordstown Motors (US) 2023

    Pickup truck maker's Endurance — 200 trucks made, Foxconn buy left owners in limbo

  9. 9
    Levdeo (Letao) China 2023

    150,000 tiny EVs sold — cheap cars, cheaper support now

  10. 10
    Beiqi (BAIC) Yinxiang / Ruili China 2023

    Struggling BAIC subsidiary — 5,000 cars, no real safety net

What Wenxin noticed

The 23 bankrupt carmakers figure comes from industry consultancy counting cited by China Automotive News (2026), but it lumps together brands that sold 1,000 cars (Hengchi) and 300,000 (Neta) — the 'orphan care score' differs wildly within that number.

Source ↗