Chinese luxury brand Zeekr, daughter of Geely Holding Group and sister brand to Volvo and Lynk & Co, among others, is starting its European offensive by opening preordering for the Zeekr 001 and Zeekr X in the Netherlands and Sweden. The latter is Zeekr’s second ‘homeland’, where the Global Design Center and European R&D are located in Gothenburg.

Pricing for the Zeekr 001 starts at €59 490 (incl. VAT) in the Netherlands and it is slightly cheaper in Sweden with 667 000 SEK or converted in euros, 56 757. The Zeekr X, with the underlying Smart #1 technology, starts at €44 990  and 550 000 SEK (€46 784). First deliveries are expected in autumn.

World’s most established luxury car market

Zeekr, led as CEO by Geely President An Conghui himself, is positioned as Geely’s premium brand next to other Chinese luxury brands like NIO or HiPhi, among others. It wants to establish the Zeekr brand’s place in the world’s most established luxury car market, most countries of Western Europe, by 2026.

To become Europe’s Zeekr CEO, Geely lured away Spiros Fotinos from Toyota Motor Europe (TME) in Brussels (Belgium), where he was director for Lexus Europe and EV planning from 2019  to 2022. So when he is talking about premium cars, the man should know what he’s talking about.

“Europe’s luxury car market is one of most established, most competitive, and most demanding in the world,” Fotinos says in the press release. “It’s also one going through a dramatic change as consumers switch to electric.

High levels of interest

“As a pure-electric luxury brand founded on world-class design, engineering, and innovation – with customer service at the heart of everything we do – this represents an unprecedented opportunity for us,” Fotinos adds.

“The level of interest we’ve already received in the Zeekr X and Zeekr 001 has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to opening the order books in Sweden and the Netherlands and seeing these amazing EVs on Europe’s roads.”

Lynk & Co design

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. Eventually, this model would become the first full electric Lynk & Co, where the resemblance with the current 001 PHEV is striking.

But like a bolt from the blue, that plan was swallowed, and the Zeekr premium brand was born without much explanation. Lynk & Co’s CEO, the Belgian Alain Visser, was swearing so far by the plugin hybrid to roll out his groundbreaking monthly subscription business case for Europe. He argued range anxiety is still dominating European drivers’ fear too much of switching to full electricity already.

620-kilometer range

Now we hear Zeekr say ‘range anxiety’ is something of the past by guaranteeing a 620 km (WLTP homologated) range for the rear-wheel drive Long Range version of the Zeekr 001. That average energy consumption is 18.2-18.5 kWh/100 km for the 200 kW (272 hp) powertrain.

It gets the same 100 kW battery pack as the Premium and Privilege models, which feature 400 kW (544 hp), 686 Nm, dual-motor all-wheel drive, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/hour in 3,8 seconds.

The CATL battery should be capable of 200 kW DC fast charging, 0-80% taking just 30 minutes, Zeekr claims. It also has a 22 kW AC charger onboard to replenish the battery from 0 to 100% in merely five hours. Zeekr Power can deliver the wall boxes needed.

CATL’s Qilin pack

In China, Zeekr 001 got a 2023 model year update, becoming the first model on the market with CATL’s new ‘Qilin’ battery pack, presented in June 2022. It’s a 140 kWh battery pack 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. And the offer is limited to 1 000 units, exclusively for China.

Zeekr X with Smart DNA

The Zeekr X and Zeekr 001 are developed from Geely’s SEA architecture, as is the Smart #1 co-developed by Geely with Mercedes-Benz. So it is no surprise the Zeekr X gets the same 69 kWh battery, which can deliver around 440 km of range (WLTP estimation).

It also inherits the same 272 hp or 428 hp drivetrains found in the Smart #1 and #1 Brabus. With the same dual motor, Zeekr X Privilege’s all-wheel drive can accelerate from 0-100 km/hour in just 3,8 seconds. For the more down-to-earth single-motor version, that’s 5,8 seconds.