(CU)_China’s biggest carmaker Geely plans to launch a premium electric car brand which it hopes would take on Tesla. The company, which owns Volvo and Lotus, said its Zeekr brand will tap into China’s demand for high-end EVs and hopes to begin deliveries in the third quarter of this year.
The news follows a restriction imposed on the use of Tesla cars among China’s military staff and key government employees over security concerns raised by the military about data collected by cameras installed in these cars. However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that if the company did engage in spying on a foreign government, “the negative effects for that company would be extremely bad”.
He also claimed that if Tesla used cars to spy in the East Asian nation or anywhere in the world, the carmaker would get shut down.
China is Tesla’s largest market after the US, and therefore Zeekr will face fierce competition from the American carmaker, whose Model 3 was the top-selling electric vehicle in China last year.
Zeekr will also compete with Chinese groups Xpeng, Li Auto and NIO which have reported healthy sales. Last week, the Chinese partner of Japan’s Nissan and PSA Peugeot Citroen of France, Dongfeng Motor, also announced that its new EV brand Voyah would start deliveries to Chinese customers in July.
Beijing’s carbon emission goals specify that more than a fifth of vehicles sold in China should be electric by 2025.
While Zeekr’s initial strategy will focus on the Chinese market, however, the carmaker is also expected to explore opportunities overseas, given the rising global demand for premium EVs.
According to ZoZo Go, a consultancy firm focusing on the Asian car market, Geely hopes to “inject” the 24-year-old company with “a start-up vibe”, similar to that seen at Xpeng, NIO and Li Auto. Therefore, the carmaker would operate under a new entity named Lingling Technologies, which will be based in Hefei, eastern China, and will operate independently from Geely.
