(Yicai Global) April 3 -- Chinese auto rental firm CAR has suspended trading today after its share price plummeted by as much as 72.1 percent in morning trade following affiliate Luckin Coffee's announcement that its chief operating officer, an ex-CAR employee, had been fabricating sales figures.

Its stock was down 54.5 percent at HKD1.96 (25 US cents) when it halted trading at 10.14 a.m.

Chinese billionaire Lu Zhengyao is the biggest investor in CAR and Luckin, whose COO Liu Jian was at the heart of the sales reporting scandal. Liu worked at car for seven years until 2015 and Luckin founder Qian Zhiya had worked there until 2017.

Luckin revealed yesterday that Liu had added around CNY2.2 billion (USD310 million) onto its 2019 sales total, prompting its own shares to close nearly 75.6 percent down at USD6.40 and wiping USD5 billion from its market capitalization.

Editor: James Boynton