Author | Nie Yiyao

In the just past July, Zeekr undoubtedly won a comeback.

On July 11th, the “Zeekr Evolution” press conference made people excited. The praise “I love Zeekr”, “Zeekr 666”, “Congcong YYDS” filled the live public screen, and the on-site users and fans kept screaming and shouting.

Data shows that in July 2022, 5022 units of Zeekr 001 were delivered, with a month-on-month increase of 16.7%, creating a new historical high in monthly deliveries, and accumulated deliveries exceeded 30,000, reaching 30,039 units. It took 110 days from the start of delivery to delivery of more than 10,000 units, 107 days from more than 10,000 units to more than 20,000 units, and only 64 days from more than 20,000 units to more than 30,000 units.

At the same time, in July, the number of large orders for Zeekr 001 (a non-refundable deposit of 5,000 yuan) exceeded 10,000 again, and the average order amount exceeded 335,000 yuan.

Just after Zeekr released the above delivery and order information, Geely Automobile’s stock price rose sharply by 14.32%, leading the blue-chip stocks. The secondary market’s optimism about Zeekr, like its sales volume, also rose.

In fact, since June this year, Geely Automobile’s stock price has been rising continuously. One important reason is that Geely’s new energy product cycle has started and has achieved impressive performance. In terms of the timeline, this round of stock price increases coincides with Zeekr’s good order situation.

“The electric vehicle race is a marathon,” said An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr Smart Technology.

The Value of “Zeekr Speed”

In fact, Zeekr’s existence is a race against time. On March 23, 2021, Zeekr Smart Technology was established, and An Conghui was appointed CEO. On April 15th of the same year, the Zeekr brand was launched at the Ningbo Hangzhou Bay, and the first mass-produced car, Zeekr 001, built based on the SEA vast architecture, was released simultaneously and opened for pre-sale.

Two months later, on June 15th, because orders far exceeded expectations, all orders for 2021 were sold out. At the end of August, Zeekr received a 500 million US dollar investment from five ecological partners, including Intel Capital, CATL, Bilibili, Hongshang Group, and Boyu Capital…

On October 19th of the same year, the mass-produced Zeekr 001 was off the production line at the Zeekr Intelligent Factory in Ningbo Hangzhou Bay. Four days later, on October 23rd, Zeekr began to deliver the first batch of vehicles to users.From brand announcement to first car delivery, Ekka only took 192 days, while Tesla took 9 years, and XPeng and Nio took 4 years. From the beginning of delivery to breaking through 10,000 vehicles, Ekka took 110 days, while the new force leader Ideal One took 195 days. Ekka took only 217 days to achieve a delivery volume of over 20,000. From 20,000 vehicles to 30,000 vehicles, it only took 64 days, which is double the average performance of “Wei Xiao Li”…

This breakthrough of 30,000 vehicles not only showcases the ability and potential of “Ekka speed” since the brand’s release, but also demonstrates the results of Ekka’s collaboration with supply chain partners to fully ensure delivery. It is also the best interpretation of Ekka’s continuous leadership in the high-end intelligent pure electric brand’s “third racetrack”.

In addition to its astonishing speed and efficiency, “Ekka speed” also contains a higher level of value.

This value is reflected in the fact that the average selling price of Ekka 001 is 335,000 yuan, which has entered the price range of luxury brands. Together with a group of rising stars among new forces such as Nio, XPeng, and Ideal, Ekka is pushing China’s brands and new energy market towards a more valuable future.

It is worth mentioning that the referral rate of Ekka 001 users is 35% to 40%; the residual value of second-hand Ekka 001 is 89.67%. The most important thing is reputation. “Pure electric control ceiling” has become a household name, and “Ekka-style control” has become the reason for Z customers to boast about themselves.

From product evolution to accelerated delivery, and continuous improvement of user ecological layout, Ekka is working with users to create the ultimate experience of travel and life.

Phenomenal products and the “power of giants”

How did Ekka run out of the leading “Ekka speed” in the 300,000 yuan luxury pure electric market, in the face of the epidemic and supply chain crisis? If one wants to make an accurate assessment of the value of Ekka’s brand, this question needs to be studied.

The competition in four aspects of new automotive technology has entered a white-hot stage. The rebound of the epidemic and supply chain fluctuations have intensified market competition and accelerated industry reshuffle.

From the most direct comparison, those players who are richer in funding, stronger in technology, and better in brand reputation, operation strategies, and business models, are obviously easier to win.

Objectively speaking, Ekka is one of the more outstanding players who meet the above conditions.

Ekka comes from Geely, and Geely’s strength in terms of funding, technical capabilities, and enterprise DNA is what Ekka calls the “power of giants.”

How powerful is the “power of giants”? Let’s take a look at a few aspects.The comparison of new energy vehicles can be roughly divided into three paths. One is represented by new forces in the automotive industry, focusing on the whole vehicle and user experience; the second is traditional automakers focusing on architecture and supply chain; the third combines the advantages of the first two, focusing on both the whole vehicle and user experience, as well as architecture and supply chain.

In the fierce market competition and frequent occurrences of “black swan” and “gray rhino” events, each single path will show its own shortcomings. In fact, the third path, which is also the “third runway” emphasized by NIO, embodies the dual advantages of both whole vehicle and user experience, as well as architecture and supply chain, so the road will naturally become broader.

The “phenomenal product” that caused people to marvel did not come out of nowhere like the legendary tales suggest.

In An Conghui’s view, the “NIO phenomenon” is a strategic layout of Geely Automobile that is “planned before action”. As the “giant power” given to NIO by Geely, it has always been a master of deep deployment of architecture and supply chain. While the pure electric architecture developed by conservative factions still stays in the enclosed and low-bandwidth stage with poor compatibility, Geely is already on the road of open-source and high-bandwidth pure electric architecture with Tesla.

Geely’s SEA architecture not only incorporates the safety of the Volvo SPA architecture and the handling of the CMA architecture but also has a flexible electric hardware architecture and standardized intelligent software system. In the global automotive industry, the SEA architecture is undoubtedly the king.

Why is the SEA architecture so powerful? Because it is like a “motherboard”, on which the required accessories can be quickly plugged in to form a “scalable, expandable, and plug-and-play” modular intelligent manufacturing system according to demand.

NIO ES8 is one of the most sought-after “new generation” products of the SEA architecture. The perfect architecture quickly showcases the outstanding appearance and internal space, 3.8-second 0-100 acceleration, and impeccable chassis tuning of the NIO ES8.

As a luxury hunting SUV, the NIO ES8 has not only the comfort of an SUV but also the off-road capability of an SUV. With spacious seats and luxury ride experience, it has exceptional acceleration and super cornering performance. NIO ES8 also features cool frameless doors and outstanding NVH. The 100 kWh battery provides extra-long battery life while also considering energy consumption standards.

It is understood that the NIO ES8 is equipped with more than 2,000 types of chips, more than 10,000 chips, and 7 of them are global debuts. It is such a highly sophisticated high-end intelligent electric vehicle that even in the face of tremendous supply chain pressures in the overall chip environment, it has still been guaranteed a delivery by NIO’s supply chain system.”The Power of Giants” also includes the pioneering role of Geely in learning about vehicle experience and user operations from the new forces, giving full support to GeometryAuto and empowering it.

At the “GeometryAuto Evolution” press conference on July 11th, GeometryAuto announced that GeometryAuto 001 will officially be equipped with the “8155 Intelligent Cockpit Computing Platform”, and will be upgraded for free to all users. Among them, users who have already placed orders but haven’t received their cars yet, as well as new users who place orders, will be upgraded directly; users who have already received their cars can start booking upgrades through the GeometryAuto APP from August 1st.

This news quickly brought GeometryAuto to the top of Weibo’s hot search list. This time, the chip upgrade corresponds to the delivery volume of 25,000 GeometryAuto vehicles, which means that GeometryAuto will pay more than 300 million yuan for this upgrade.

The news of GeometryAuto’s free upgrade quickly caused a sensation among users of rival brands. Some Nio users in a group chat mentioned Nio’s founder, Li Bin, and his response was somewhat helpless, “With over 200,000 cars, we can’t upgrade them for free. It costs over 2 billion yuan.” He XPeng, the founder of XPeng Motors, was even more direct in his response, “Who can bear this…”.

GeometryAuto paved the way for a free upgrade system, on one hand, strengthen the foundation of user-oriented enterprises. Based on the underlying logic of user needs and co-creation with users, GeometryAuto not only learns from new forces in terms of products, user experience, business models, but even does better than new forces and better satisfies users and puts users at the center.

On the other hand, it reflects the strong financial strength and system advantages of Geely, the “power of giants”, as well as the determined long-termism of Geely in building the GeometryAuto brand. From cars to the internet, GeometryAuto’s rapidly expanding experience centers, power-up networks, and service networks all demonstrate the belief and determination of long-termism to users.

The philosophy of “fast” and unlimited evolution

GeometryAuto’s base color is inherently tied to one word – “fast”.

On the GeometryAuto 001 product, we can see GeometryAuto’s ability to quickly sniff out consumer trends and demands, and the skill of making corresponding decisions in response to market reactions quickly. Beyond the traditional auto and new force competition, GeometryAuto has found and opened up a third track in the intelligent pure electric vehicle industry.

In terms of product layout, based on the original GeometryAuto 001 model, GeometryAuto has launched a new ME version of the car, which was listed on July 11th. According to the plan, GeometryAuto will also launch a high-end MPV model in 2022. In addition to the already listed GeometryAuto 001, there will be six more products launched before 2025.

In terms of system construction, as of July 31st, GeometryAuto has opened 148 stores in major cities across China. By the end of 2022, GeometryAuto’s national stores will also expand to nearly 300.

As of July 31, Zeekr Energy has deployed 64 self-built charging stations in cities across China, with a total of 396 stations (excluding dedicated stations), and has connected to over 340,000 high-quality public charging piles in 332 cities across the country. Car owners can easily find and quickly reach charging stations through the Zeekr Energy App charging map, while self-built stations complement and gradually build a more comprehensive charging network.

At the same time, this has also raised the question of “Where is Zeekr Energy’s user relationship boundary” in the industry.

“Product lifecycle management” and “user full-scene coverage” is not just talk, nor is it just for show. Collaborating with users is a natural choice, despite the very high resistance, difficulties, and black boxes involved. This is fundamentally driven by the auto industry’s “unlimited evolution” because “users will ultimately give you a fair evaluation.”

An Conghui’s answer clearly expresses Zeekr Energy’s principles for handling user relationships going forward. It is evident that no matter how the outside world evaluates Zeekr Energy, they will continue to use a sincere approach to maintaining and constantly exploring the most suitable ways and methods.

With its unique Zeekr Energy model, Zeekr Energy has taken a different high-end path. The combination of “the strength of giants” and the superiority of the Zeekr Energy model has become the latest bright spot and a new epitome of the continuous outbreak of China’s intelligent electric vehicle industry.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.