Chinese Auto Giant Geely Launches Luxury EV Brand Zeekr

Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings is launching a new brand of premium electric vehicles as it aims to capture a share of the luxury EV market that has been dominated by Tesla and other homegrown companies. Geely, aside from being the parent company to Volvo, Lotus, Lynk&Co, Proton, Terrafugia, and LEVC is also a 50 percent shareholder in Mercedes-Benz’s parent company's Smart city car brand. The company is said to be looking to rival Tesla in the premium electric vehicle space with its new EV brand.[caption id="attachment_25591" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] For Representation Only[/caption]The brand, Zeekr, will take on Tesla's increasingly dominant position among high-end EV buyers, and the company said its first product will go on sale later this year. Zeekr will have to jostle with domestic start-ups Li Auto and NIO that also offer luxury car models. Similar to Tesla, Zeekr will open showrooms to sell its vehicles at a fixed price, according to Reuters. Geely said that Zeekr will initially only be for China, but the automaker will look elsewhere to sell the vehicles depending on demand.[caption id="attachment_25592" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] For Representation Only[/caption]The Zeekr marque will be manufactured by Geely Holding using its Sustainable Experience Architecture, an open-source EV technology that the company said offers driving ranges of up to 435 miles (700 km) as well as smart connectivity options. Geely has plans to deploy the architecture across its nine automotive brands. Zeekr will be jointly owned by the subsidiary and its parent with a 51% and 49% share structure, with a joint investment of 2 billion yuan ($307 million).