China's Zotye T600 small SUV is destined for the US in 2020

More than one Chinese automaker has put its foot down, said, "Yes, we will come to the US," and then… well, nobody's made it to the third step quite yet. But Zotye has once again promised that it will bring one of its vehicles to our shores.

Zotye plans to bring its T600 compact SUV to the US, the automaker announced Thursday. It's unclear exactly what we'll get, but considering the company showed off a new version of the T600 at the Shanghai Motor Show this year, odds are it'll be that one.

While Zotye didn't give out too many specifications, it did give us a basic idea of what to expect. In addition to the shapely form seen in the picture above, the T600 will pack a 1.6-liter turbocharged I4 gas engine and a six-speed automatic transmission. The company expects sales to begin by the end of 2020 or in the first quarter of 2021.

Following the T600, Zotye's US arm intends to introduce a midsize SUV and a sedan at some point, but no timeline has been attached. The company first established the stateside part of its company last November, and in January it announced that it had signed agreements with 19 dealers to establish a foothold in the US market. Zotye estimates it'll have some 300 locations up and running when the T6 goes on sale.

Of course, there's a lot that can happen between now and then, and thus far, no Chinese automaker has successfully broken into the US market. Even Zotye itself was promising a compact EV for the US all the way back in 2010, and that clearly never happened, despite signing an agreement with a major Midwestern dealer group (good ol' Bob Rohrman, for those of you in my neck of the woods). Rival GAC seems a bit closer to sales in the US, as it's had a booth at the Detroit Auto Show for a couple years now, showing off a new concept there earlier this year.

Enlarge Image