Valentin Debise of EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory competes during the race 2 of WorldSSP at the FIM Supersport World Championship Emilia Romagna Round in Misano Adriatico, Italy, June 14, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

Chinese motorcycle manufacturer ZXMOTO has won a permit to construct a plant in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality with an annual output of 500,000 motorcycles, according to local media reports on Thursday, citing the Chongqing municipal authorities.

Preliminary work is being accelerated and construction is expected to start within this year, an official of the Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission told the Chongqing Daily.

The plan will drastically multiply the brand's production capacity, which reportedly reached 60,000 units per year as of August.

ZXMOTO's brand profile has rapidly expanded this year beyond its original fan base and orders have climbed sharply, as the company's motorcycles continued to win championships at international racing events.

On Sunday, ZXMOTO founder Zhang Xue set a Guinness World Record by riding a modified motorcycle 40.74 kilometers across open water in his hometown of Mayang Miao Autonomous county in Central China's Hunan Province.

On October 18, French rider Valentin Debise of ZXMOTO finished fifth in the second World Supersport race at the Pirelli Spanish Round. 

Overseas orders in April alone were equivalent to the company's total overseas orders from 2025, the report said. In June, the company's monthly output exceeded 10,000 units. Last year, the company sold 25,000 units.

Expanding fame and rising orders have placed new demands on ZXMOTO's production capacity. The company, in an effort to build a world-class motorcycle brand, plans to build a research and development and production base for 500,000 motorcycles a year in Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area, combining large-scale mass production, intelligent manufacturing and high-end brand display, and ensuring that its production processes can support product upgrades over the next decade.

The project is expected to cost about 750 million yuan ($112.51 million), with a floor space of about 195,000 square meters for factory buildings and supporting facilities.

It will purchase about 17 sets of equipment for welding, painting, engine assembly and complete-vehicle assembly, and build a testing center, an R&D center and complete-vehicle production lines.

At the recent Canton Fair, Zhang Xue said that his goal is to build a world-class brand within five or six years, sooner than his original 10-year target.

Chongqing is a leading hub of motorcycle production in China.

Data shows that in the first nine months of this year, Chongqing produced 8.84 million motorcycles, ranking first in China.

Beyond the new ZXMOTO project, Chongqing's key motorcycle industry projects continued to gain momentum in the first nine months of this year, completing investment of 2.2 billion yuan as the city accelerated efforts to build a "one-hour motorcycle industrial circle."

According to the Chongqing official, the city's "one-hour motorcycle industrial circle" supply chain network has taken shape after more than 40 years of development.

The municipality aims to build itself into the world capital of motorcycles during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, according to the Chongqing Daily report.