Zeekr

Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Limited, trading as Zeekr is a Chinese publicly listed automobile company and brand owned by Geely Automobile Holdings. Founded in 2021, it specializes in premium electric cars. Zeekr products are built on the EV-focused Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform.

The name of the brand is made up of the letter 'Z' from 'Generation Z', and the term geek.

History
Zeekr was founded in March 2021 as a premium electric mobility brand for battery-powered vehicles by the Geely Group to compete against Nio and Tesla, among others. Its first model, the Zeekr 001 was officially launched in April 2021. The Zeekr models are to be based on the SEA platform presented in autumn 2020. Zeekr started delivering the 001 model in October 2021 a vehicle originally planned to be launched by sister brand Lynk & Co. In 2022, Zeekr delivered 71,941 Zeekr 001 to customers across more than 330 cities in China. Its subsidiary Zeekr Power covers more than 110 cities with over 660 stations.

Zeekr developed Waymo's autonomous robotaxi. In December 2021, Geely announced that Zeekr would be collaborating with Waymo to develop and provide all-electric, autonomous ride-hailing vehicle for the Waymo One autonomous mobility service in the United States. The vehicle integrated with Waymo's technology was unveiled in Los Angeles in November 2022.

In January 2022, a cooperation between Zeekr and Mobileye was announced to expand their strategic technology partnership with a goal to deliver the world's first consumer autonomous vehicles with L4 capabilities by 2024.

In August 2022, Zeekr announced their cooperation with CATL, making them the first brand to use CATL's Qilin long range batteries for global mass production. The Zeekr 001 will be the first model to use the new batteries, enabling them to have a pure electric range exceeding 1000 km.

Zeekr raised US$500 million in its first external fundraising from five investors including Intel Capital, CATL, Bilibili in August 2021. On February 13, 2023, Zeekr is valued at US$13 billion after it raised US$750 million from five investors. In May 2024, Zeekr filed its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. Zeekr raised around US$441 million, making it the largest IPO of a Chinese company since 2021.

Market availability
Zeekr first launched in China and starting expanding into Europe. Its first European showroom opened in Stockholm, Sweden in 2023. Sweden, together with the Netherlands, were the first European markets which Zeekr entered in 2023. In 2024, the brand plans to expand into Denmark, Germany, France, Norway, Israel and Australia. The company also plans to enter the Singapore market by 2024.

Zeekr plans to enter the Brazilian Market in September 2024. It was reported that the company will officially enter the Korean market in 2025 next year.

Facility
In 2023, Zeekr had three R&D facilities in China – Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai as well as Zeekr Technology Europe (previously China Euro Vehicle Technology or CEVT) in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its global design center is also located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Zeekr's European headquarters and sales office were moved from Gothenburg to Amsterdam due to higher concentration of experienced sales professionals.

Zeekr's factory has a manufacturing capacity of up to 300,000 vehicles per year and can be expanded further.

Current models

 * Zeekr 001 (2021–present), full-size shooting brake
 * Zeekr 007 (2023–present), mid-size sedan
 * Zeekr 009 (2023–present), full-size MPV
 * Zeekr X (2023–present), subcompact SUV
 * Zeekr 7X (to commence), compact SUV
 * Zeekr Mix (2024–present), compact MPV

Upcoming models

 * Zeekr codename "CM1e", an autonomous vehicle for Waymo.
 * Zeekr codename "CX1E" (in-development as of 2023), compact SUV and a direct competitor to Tesla Model Y

Concept models

 * Zeekr M-Vision (Waymo Concept) (2021)

M-Vision is built on SEA-M architecture to showcase the architecture's fundamental features such as expansive interior, open seat choice, and placement option, no B-pillar, and robust electrical/electronic (E/E) backbone supporting autonomous drive and connected devices. M-Vision is a base model that can be developed for a range of future mobility products including robotaxis, multi-purpose vehicles, and logistics vehicles.