Premium electric automaker Zeekr has the Middle East in sights for renewed sales drive in 2024 with expansion in Europe and across Asia
Luxury electric vehicle maker Zeekr is aiming to deliver 230,000 cars in 2024, double its deliveries in 2023, a company spokesperson said on Monday (January 8). The pure EV brand of China’s Geely is ramping up sales of new models and expand into overseas markets after a tough sales year in its home market.
Buyers across the Middle East and Asia are a focus of the brand’s expansion during 2024 and motoring writers have compared the new premium brand as being similar to Lexus for Toyota. The three-year-old company sold 118,685 cars in 2023, increasing 65% from 2022, the company but failed in 2023 to meet sales targets thanks largely to a tough price war in China with more 40 different car brands. China is now the world’s largest automotive market.
Zeekr started delivery of its fourth model, the Zeekr 007 sedan, in December and wants to increase sales in Europe while selling into more markets in the Middle East and Asia this year, the company said.
Global electric mobility technology company ZEEKR is unveiling new electric vehicle battery technologies that can support ultra-fast charging, high energy density and excellent safety.
The lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell and pack technologies are developed by ZEEKR’s in-house battery research and development team. Enhanced by 800V electrical system, an electric vehicle with ZEEKR’s new technologies can charge 500 kilometers of driving range within 15 minutes. Even at low temperature in winter, the charging performance of ZEEKR vehicles with new batteries outperforms many competitors.
LFP batteries are traditionally regarded by the industry to have lower energy density in comparison with nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries at the cell level. In order to tackle that, Zeekr’s engineers carefully designed the battery pack for the new LFP to achieve high energy density at the pack level. Thanks to the application of newly-developed materials and simplified structural design, the volume utilization of the new battery pack reaches 83.7%, higher than many global peers.
The excellent energy density does not come with compromise in safety, the packs have passed six strict safety tests including nail penetration conducted by the National Motor Vehicle Quality Inspection and Testing Center.
The Zeekr 007 pure electric premium sedan will be the first model to be equipped with the new batteries with several vehicle models to follow. Deliveries of the new model began this month (January 2024).
About Zeekr
Zeekr is the global premium electric mobility technology brand from Geely Holding Group. Zeekr aims to create a fully integrated user ecosystem with innovation as standard. The brand utilizes Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) and includes its own battery technologies, battery management systems, electric motor technologies and electric vehicle supply chain. Zeekr’s value is equality, diversity, and sustainability. Its ambition is to become a true mobility solution’s provider.
Since Zeekr began delivering vehicles in October 2021, the brand has delivered over 180,000 vehicles to date including the Zeekr 001, Zeekr 009 MPV and Zeekr X urban SUV. Zeekr has announced plans to sell vehicles in Europe, Middle East and other Asian markets, and has an ambitious roll-out plan over the next 5 years to satisfy the rapidly expanding global EV demand.
Zeekr is part of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd., commonly known as Geely is a Chinese multinational automotive company, headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
