The Chinese luxury brand Zeekr, daughter of Geely Holding Group and sister brand to Volvo and Lynk & Co, among others, is having a crack at the European premium electric car market, starting in Q4 of this year. The latter was confirmed by the CEO An Conghui – also President of Geely – at the Beijing annual China EV 100 Forum.

Zeekr started setting up its European sales team last year and will have its models homologated for the European market by the end of this year. It has two models on sale in China, the Zeekr 001 Shooting Brake and the 009 SUV. A sleeker X crossover is expected to enter production later this year, and probably a sedan, codenamed the CS1E, too.

Global label of China’s strength

CEO An Conghui didn’t want to reveal further details, as these would be kept for an official announcement at the Shanghai Motor Show, to be held in late April. According to Chinese media, Conghui added: “Chinese carmakers should export New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) faster and more confidently. NEVs should become a new global label of China’s manufacturing strength.”

China exported 670 000 ‘NEVs’  in 2022, as they call the range of electrified vehicles from HEV to PHEV and BEV. That’s more than double the year before and only a fraction of the 3,11 million total vehicles in 2022. By this, China has overtaken Germany as the world’s second-largest car exporter, according to ChinaDaily.com.

650 000 cars a year

Zeekr is confident it will have eight models on sale by 2025 and aims at producing 650 000 cars a year. So far, it has sold 71 941 vehicles in China, all of the 001 model that was initially meant by Geely to be Lynk & Co’s first fully electric model, but which became a separate brand.

The Zeekr 001 was launched in 2021 as a 4,97 meter-long shooting brake with similar design cues to the Lynk & Co model range. At launch, the 001 was available with an 86 kWh or a 100 kWh battery pack, promising range figures of up to 700 km, according to the Chinese CLTC standard.

Massive 140 kWh battery pack

Today, the Zeekr 001 gets a 2023 model year update, becoming the first model on the market with CATL’s new ‘Qilin’ battery pack, presented in June 2022, promising record volume efficiency and an electric driving range of over 1 000 km.

Zeekr stuffed a massive 140 kWh battery pack into the 001, offering a range of 1 032 km. However, this is according to the Chinese CLTC figures, which are usually around 20-25% more optimistic than the WLTP standard.

There’s a second caveat, however: the 140 kWh Qilin battery option is limited to only 1 000 units, with an additional cost of 103 000 RMB (14 100 euros), bringing the starting price of the Zeekr 001 with the largest battery to 403 000 RMB (55 200 euros).

The 009 is a luxury MPV starting at 499 000 RMB (€66 918). You can have it in China with either a 116 kWh or a 140 kWh battery, promising a 701-km CLTC range and 820 km, respectively.

Smart #1 sibling

The compact crossover likely to be positioned especially for Europe is dubbed X. The launch for China is scheduled for the end of the year, after which the rival for the Volkswagen ID.3 could hit European shores.

Since the latter is identical to the Smart #1, the Chinese newcomer will likely get the same powertrain options as its sibling. This implies a battery pack of 66 kWh and a choice between rear-wheel drive (single motor) and four-wheel drive (dual motor). Output ranges from 272 hp to 428 hp.