In February, Zeekr raised $750 million in a funding round that valued the brand at $13 billion from investors including Amnon Shashua, the CEO of autonomous driving technology company Mobileye Global – majority owned by Intel Corp – and Chinese battery giant.
A price war started by Tesla in China at the beginning of the year is hitting the profitability of pure EV makers, which have stepped up efforts to prune costs and build partnerships to survive the consolidating competition.
However, Zeekr, which is able to utilise Zhejiang Geely Holding Group’s manufacturing facilities and cost-saving capabilities, has seen its profitability improve.
CEO Andy An told reporters in August that Zeekr achieved a double-digit gross profit in the first half of this year, compared to a 5% gross profit in 2022.
Zeekr, established in 2021, ranked 13th in EV sales in China among all brands with 79,028 units sold in the first nine months, more than double the same period in 2022.
It offers four EV models in China, with its 001 crossover priced from 269,000 yuan ($36,927.22) as its best-selling EV.
Zeekr has also announced plans to sell into overseas markets including the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan among others.
Reuters
