Founded in 1992 as Changsha Hi-tech Development Area Zoomlion Construction Mechanical Industry Company, one of its first products were concrete pumps.[3] The company grew out of a subsidiary founded in 1956 in Beijing, as part of the first Ministry of Machinery Industry, Ministry of Construction, Central Enterprise Work Committee.

Early development included the merging of several smaller, preexisting entities with Zoomlion including the former Concrete Machinery Research Office and remnants of the Changsha Construction Machinery Research Institute

In May 2013, Chinese newspaper New Express reported on alleged fraud at Zoomlion. This caused Zoomlion to temporarily suspend trading of its stock and later resulted in a 9% decrease in its share price.[8] Zoomlion accused the reporter Chen Yongzhou of "damaging business interests" and he has since been arrested.[9] In October, 2013, New Express published a large front-page plea for his release.[

In August 2014, Zoomlion purchased a majority share in the agricultural machinery maker Chery Heavy Industry. Zoomlion purchased 60 percent of the company for 2.08 billion yuan. With this acquisition Zoomlion intended to modernize China's agricultural machinery industry and compete with foreign brands that still dominate a big part of the medium and high-end large farm machinery market in China