Geely's Zeekr targets diesel owners switching to EVs

GOTHENBURG, Sweden – As Zeekr, the Geely premium full-electric brand, prepares to enter the European market, it is taking aim at Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz customers who are switching to EVs from diesel models.

“You cannot play in the European premium pond if you are not able to lure at least a small portion of the 75 percent of German customers who will convert from diesels to electric cars,” Spiros Fotinos, Zeekr’s European CEO, told Automotive News Europe this week on the sidelines of the brand’s European launch here. 

Zeekr on Tuesday opened pre-orders in the Netherlands and Sweden for the 001 midsize shooting brake and the X compact crossover. Deliveries are set to begin in the autumn, Fotinos said.

Fotinos, who joined Zeekr in September 2022 after 24 years at Toyota and Lexus, declined to give any short- or long-term volume prediction for Zeekr sales in Europe, outlining only the planned rollout per country.

Zeekr hopes to start sales in Denmark, France, Germany and Norway in 2024 and to cover Western Europe by 2026. Other launches in central and Eastern Europe, as well as in Fotinos’s native Greece, will follow the development of the electric vehicle market in each country, he said.

The launch of Zeekr will give Geely three full-electric brands in Europe, in addition to Polestar and Smart (50 percent owned by Mercedes), as well as Volvo, which aims to be an electric-only brand by 2030.

The Zeekr 001, at 4995 mm long, rivals the Hyundai Ionic 6 in terms of size and design. It will start at 59,490 euros in the Netherlands for an entry model that has a single electric motor with an output of 272 hp. The 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack supplied by CATL is expected to deliver a WLTP range of 620 km (385 miles), with homologation pending.

A dual-motor, all-wheel drive top-level Privilege version has 544 hp and a range of 580 km, with a top speed of 200 kph. It is priced at 67,490 euros.

In comparison, the Audi Q4 E-Tron Sportback starts at 53,000 euros and goes up to 73,000 euros for an all-wheel-drive Quattro version.

The 4432 mm-long Zeekr X compact SUV, a sister model to the Smart #3 and Volvo EX30, starts at 44,990 euros for the 272 hp single motor version capable of 440 km and at 49,490 euros for the 428-hp all-wheel-drive Privilege variant capable of 400 km. Both versions have a 69-kWh battery pack with cells from CATL.

A comparably sized model from Mercedes, the EQA, starts at about 55,000 euros. At a similar price point in Europe, apart from Smart and Volvo models, is the Nissan Ariya, which starts at about 45,000 euros.

In term of future products, Fotinos said Europe should expect at least one new model a year, if not more, in the coming years. Most likely, the next models will be midsize or larger, he said.

Through May, Zeekr had sold about 100,000 units in China, with roughly 80 percent being the 001 sedan (launched in October 2021) and the 009 three-row large minivan (not planned for Europe) that was introduced this January. Sales in China of the X compact SUV will begin next month.

In Europe, Zeekr is mirroring Tesla's direct sales model, with the bulk of orders coming online. There will initially be one flagship store per country where most customers are expected to go to pick up their cars. The first two flagship stores will open in Stockholm and Amsterdam by the end of the year.

“We will also offer home or office delivery, but the research we have commissioned in Europe show that most of the customers will travel to the flagship store to get their vehicle,” Fotinos said.

He said that having one flagship store per country model could work in the Netherlands and Sweden, where about 70 percent of all car sales happen in narrow geographical “corridors” from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, or from Stockholm to Gothenburg, but not in larger countries such as France and Germany.

Zeekr will open a national sales company in each country where it will operate, mainly for local taxes and liability issues, Fotinos said.

With just one flagship store per country, Zeekr is planning a fleet of service vans that Fotinos expects will cover about 80 percent of the brand’s needs.

The company is also considering signing service agreements with third parties, including deal in countries where it has not yet started sales, he said. “If you are going on vacation abroad and have a problem with your car, we should make sure your problem gets fixed anyway,” Fotinos added.

In Europe, Zeekr is offering what it calls a 5+5-year warranty, starting with coverage for the first five years or 100,000 km. This can be extended for up to a further five years -- and an overall total of 200,000 km --when scheduled servicing is carried out in the Zeekr service network. The battery is protected by an eight-year/200,000 km warranty.