Chinese Corporate Collapses 2023-2026 | Generated by AI
Question: What notable Chinese companies have collapsed/gone bankrupt in recent years (2023-2026)?
Answer: Three sectors account for most of the carnage — property, shadow banking, and EV startups.
Property & shadow banking
- China Evergrande Group — A Hong Kong court ordered liquidation on Jan 29, 2024, marking the largest bankruptcy in China’s history, with debt of 2.39 trillion yuan (~$330B, ~2% of GDP). It was delisted from HKEX on Aug 25, 2025. Its auditor PwC Zhong Tian also got hit — a six-month mainland suspension plus a 441M yuan fine in Sept 2024 for audit failures.
- Zhongzhi Enterprise Group — one of China’s largest shadow-banking conglomerates. A Beijing court ordered liquidation of Zhongzhi and 300+ affiliates in April 2026, after it first filed for bankruptcy in Jan 2024.
EV startups (the sector has been a bloodbath)
- WM Motor — the biggest Chinese EV insolvency to date, ~100K vehicles sold 2019-2022, filed for bankruptcy in a Shanghai court in late 2023/2024, backed by Baidu.
- Human Horizons / HiPhi — filed for pre-bankruptcy restructuring in Aug 2024 after suspending production in Feb, unable to pay suppliers despite EU expansion attempts.
- Jiyue (Geely x Baidu JV) — collapsed in late 2024, part of a wave alongside Enovate’s closure and Evergrande Auto’s demise.
- Neta (Hozon) — the top-selling startup to go bankrupt, ~500K units sold 2018-2024 before insolvency.
- Also gone: Byton, Aiways, Singulato, Qiantu Motor (parent CH-Auto filed for bankruptcy liquidation Jan 2025, failed US IPO), Levdeo, Bordrin, LeEco EV.
- Looking forward: ~50 more loss-making Chinese EV makers are at risk of collapse heading into 2026 as subsidies dry up and 2026 could see China’s first car-sales contraction since 2020.
- Scale: roughly 400 Chinese EV companies ceased operations between 2018-2025.
Bigger picture: China’s bankruptcy system is brutal on the way in — ~83% of companies that reach bankruptcy court end up liquidated vs. only ~5% in the US, so “bankruptcy” in China usually means real death, not Chapter 11-style reorg. The regulatory response is also shifting — Xiamen rolled out personal bankruptcy protection rules in Nov 2025 and there’s a draft Enterprise Bankruptcy Law amendment aimed at rescuing small businesses/entrepreneurs.
References:
- Evergrande’s Fall: largest bankruptcy in China’s history
- China starts bankruptcy liquidation of Zhongzhi — Bloomberg
- WM Motor’s bankruptcy — TechCrunch
- Human Horizons/HiPhi files for bankruptcy
- Jiyue closes doors — Inside China Auto
- Car owners stranded as NEV startups go bust — Yicai
- Qiantu Motor — Wikipedia
- 50 Chinese EV makers at risk in 2026 — IDN Financials
- 400 Chinese EV companies ceased ops 2018-2025 — EVBoosters
- China’s maturing bankruptcy law — Law.asia
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