Geely To Launch Premium EV Brand, To Compete With Tesla

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. or better known as Geely, will be launching its own premium electric brand, Zeekr. 

The new high-end EV brand will be using different branding and sales strategies as it has set eyes for Tesla. 

Geely is a China based large automotive company which owns Geely Auto, Volvo, Lotus, Link & Co, Polestar and 9.7 percent of Daimler. This upcoming brand will be part of the company’s upcoming EV arm, Lingling Technologies. 

Reportedly, future Zeekr models will be on a new dedicated EV platform called Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA).

Geely will be opening showrooms and selling Zeekr EVs at a fixed price similar to how Tesla runs. This is a complete opposite from the traditional method, where Geely usually sells their vehicles through dealerships. This follows Geely’s January announcement of a partnership with Foxconn to build EVs for other companies.

In addition to showrooms for future Zeekr models, Geely will also incorporate new marketing and sales strategies in order to attract more customers. The company is in plans of starting a car owner’s club as well as lifestyle brands for clothing and accessories. This is similar to one of the upscale EV brands in China, Nio. 

Besides that, there is consideration of allowing customers to become shareholders of Lingling Technologies. This strategy is considered by Geely in hopes to create more sales. 

The China’s government has been actively promoting new energy vehicles (NEV), which is hoped to make up 20 percent of its annual auto sales by 2025. NEVs has made a mark in the market, making up 5 percent of China’s auto sales in 2020. 

As of recently, there is a report where the Chinese government has restricted the usage of Tesla vehicles by military and state personnels in concerns of national-security leaks. Will this mean that Zeekr will make its way to these personnels due to similarity between the two brands? Let us know what you think down below!