Zeekr planning more upmarket performance and luxury flagships

Zeekr, the premium brand of China's Geely Auto Group, plans to take on established prestige and luxury/performance models in the future, according to its global vice president.

Speaking with Australian media at Zeekr Tower in Hangzhou, China, Zeekr vice president Mars Chen said these kinds of models will be targeted by Zeekr as part of its aspiration "to go up in the brand position".

"In general, Zeekr wants to go up in the brand position. You go up by two things: number one, do an actual performance [car]; number two, do a super luxury [model]. Both directions are in this house [the Zeekr brand].

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"We are planning a lot of initiatives [like this], like the latest 8X with the triple-motor versions, and of course the 9X will have a four-seat [model], what we call 'Grand' like the 009 Grand.

"So of course that's the idea, to make our brand even more outstanding in the premium segment."

In addition to its ultra-luxury flagships, Mr Chen said high-performance luxury off-roaders in the vein of the Land Rover Defender OCTA and Mercedes-AMG G63 Offroad Pro are also being looked at.

"The R&D team are not stopping at hardcore off-road, [it's] definitely one direction. Meanwhile, the sedan sporty performance, even sports car, is also another direction. But one thing is sure, we don't have plans to do any [smaller] car like 5X, 6X," he said, despite the existence of the Zeekr X small electric SUV.

When asked why not, Mr Chen replied: "because we need play the role in the house. We are Zeekr, we are high-end, it's like Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen". Asked which brand he sees Zeekr as in the Geely house, Mr Chen said: "I mean Porsche, of course".

While Zeekr hasn't previewed any plans for a two-door performance flagship, the Lynk & Co brand – a subsidiary of Geely Auto Group in which Zeekr has a controlling 51 per cent stake – just revealed a high-performance two-door GT concept to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The stunning 2+2-seat GT car blends classic proportions with modern technology and electrification. Technical details remain thin on the ground, but the Chinese brand does claim an 'indicated' 0-100km/h sprint time of just 2.0 seconds.

Zeekr and Lynk & Co have shared designs for a flagship model in the past. In fact, Zeekr's first model, the 001 electric shooting brake, was originally conceptualised as a Lynk & Co design before the Zeekr brand even existed.

And a high-performance platform like the Lynk & Co GT's could spawn multiple models, such is the nature of group development and architecture sharing in the modern automotive world.

Asked about the prospects of Zeekr's flagship models for the Australian market, Mr Chen said the brand already has plans to do focus groups on the 9X (as well as the smaller 7GT) to gather consumer feedback and gauge the local appetite for some of the available options in the lineup.

"Yes we will soon launch [a] small group of previews for [the] 9X."

Zeekr Australia's chief marketing officer Tony Zhou added: "We are arranging the left-hand drive 9X and 7GT to Australia as a small-group forbidden-area test and drive to address some of the early customers, to answer their questions.

"How do you build this brand? Zeekr is well-known in China for [being] a premium, luxury brand. In Australia [we're] still in early phase, but you see the momentum coming from the 7X.

"And our way [to that goal] is two things: what is product experience, and what is all the brand experience," Mr Zhou added.

Zeekr Australia already sells the luxurious 009 electric people mover, but not the four-seat Grand flagship with its lounge-like rear armchairs and 40-inch rear entertainment display.

This variant, which also gets niceties like monobloc-style forged alloy wheels and an aluminium-finish grille to make it look more like the large 8X and 9X plug-in hybrid SUVs, is apparently under consideration for the Australian market.

As noted earlier, the new 9X flagship SUV offers a similar four-seat flagship configuration in China, but the Australian lineup is yet to be locked ahead of the 9X's confirmed Australian release either late this year or early next.

The smaller 8X won't go uber-luxury at the top-end, but rather hardcore performance. The flagship 'Dawn' version with its tri-electric-motor extended-range plug-in hybrid system makes over 1000kW of power and 1400Nm of torque, is claimed to hit 100km/h in under 3.0 seconds, and has been engineered to take on high-performance versions of large SUVs from Audi Sport, BMW M and Mercedes-AMG.

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