The nine-dash line appears in the navigation software of a Zotye T600 car sold in Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Manh Duc.

Kylin-GX668, a company based in the northern Hai Phong City, which distributes four made-in-China cars including Zotye and Baic, apologized Saturday after a consumer reported the infamous map in a Zotye T600 model earlier that day.

Nguyen The Hung, director of Kylin, said the map was not operational in Vietnam due to a lack of traffic data in the two countries' satellite navigation systems.

"Our technical team is looking for ways on how to remove the navigation software," he said.

The company admitted its carelessness and suggested customers contact dealers to get the map removed.

The Chinese map in Zotye cars have been replaced with Google Maps in Vietnamese.

But it's not possible to remove them in all made-in-China cars. For instance, to remove the map from the Baic Q7 model, the whole navigation screen and other parts will need to be replaced.

On Saturday, Kylin's car dealers and agents in Saigon and Hanoi restricted customers from checking the new cars' interiors. Some dealers did not open at all that morning.

Kylin-GX668 has been the official Vietnamese distributor of Chinese automobiles Haima, Geely, Zotye and Baic since 2007. The import process of all cars are approved by the Vietnam Register.

The nine-dash line represents China’s fraudulent East Sea claims in flagrant violation of Vietnamese sovereignty over its waters. It claims 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, which has been met with strong opposition from the international community. It clashes with claims by Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Vietnam has to deal with various cases involving the nine-dash line recently.

Online game Onmyoji developed by Chinese firm NetEase has been banned in Vietnam after its latest update issued last week showed the nine-dash line.

Vietnamese cinemas stopped screening Dreamworks' animation movie "Abominable" earlier this month after viewers spotted the nine-dash line in a scene.

Last month, Chinese tourism brochures carrying the line were found being displayed by Chinese travel agency Hola China at the three-day International Travel Expo (ITE HCMC), promoting tours to Shanghai.

The infamous line had also caused an uproar in Vietnam in May when it was found on T-shirts worn by 14 Chinese tourists arriving at immigration at the Cam Ranh International Airport in Vietnam's central province of Khanh Hoa.