Author: Wang Hui
On September 23, 2020, Zeekr released the vast SEA intelligent experience architecture. On April 15, 2021, Zeekr 001 was officially launched at the Zeekr Smart Factory in Hangzhou Bay, China. Up to now, Zeekr has been releasing its brand for a year.
Since the mass production and delivery of Zeekr 001 in late last year, with the first batch of users delivered, as of March 31, 2022, the cumulative delivery of Zeekr 001 has reached 14,248 units, creating a history for a pure electric high-end new brand like Zeekr 001.
Moreover, with the subsequent arrival of core components, Zeekr’s delivery will have greater improvement. Although there are many difficulties, Zeekr’s first year undoubtedly presents an excellent report card.
In its first year, Zeekr continuously proves its forward-looking vision of the “third track” with its strength.
Since the delivery started on October 23, 2021, Zeekr has created a new record for domestic new energy brands with more than 10,000 deliveries within 110 days. In addition, Zeekr’s unit bike price has reached 3.35 million yuan, refuting the voice that “the average selling price cannot be achieved for 3 million yuan” initially.
While new energy brands are emerging one after another, and traditional car companies are switching tracks, the password for Zeekr to break through the encirclement is that Zeekr has taken the “third track” of the intelligent electric vehicle field.
“Geely Holding Group started to build and invest in the entire ecological chain of intelligent electric vehicles seven years ago, and all resources related to the intelligent electric vehicle ecology will be accessible to Zeekr to empower Zeekr,” said An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr Intelligent Technology last year.
An Conghui believes that while traditional car companies have technical precipitation and brand appeal, they still adopt traditional agency systems, which is the first track of intelligent electric vehicles, and the second track is the new energy vehicle manufacturers who are innovative and dare to subvert.
As for the third road that Zeekr has taken, An Conghui said that it combines the advantages of the first two tracks that integrate the years of precipitation of traditional car companies with innovative technology concepts to incubate new evolutionary productivity.
Zeekr’s first mass-produced model ZEEKER 001 is based on the SEA vast intelligent experience architecture and is built with high-configured intelligent hardware and excellent appearance, becoming the new representative of China’s high-end electric vehicles.
An Conghui said that SEA is a globally efficient intelligent electric vehicle solution, and currently, the vast architecture has been cooperating with eight brands. Not only can research and development costs be shared, but also manufacturing factories can be shared. For brands and products formed based on the vast architecture, this can quickly improve production capacity utilization and ensure brand profitability.# This year, the response of users to Giga’s products has been mixed with both praise and criticism.
Acceleration of R&D has led to various issues with the car system, and although the service attitude is very thoughtful, the heavily publicized “Sky Gate” and other problem-related complaints have caused controversy around Giga’s reputation as an overachiever.
At the 2021 annual performance conference, An Conghui spoke frankly, stating that “as Giga, we need to honestly face the problems we have now, measures to solve these problems, and Giga’s next step plan.”
In addition to issues with product quality and software bugs, An Conghui also proposed a solution to Giga’s “illnesses.”
The involvement of the chip team, plans to release six new products in three years, and the allocation of software R&D resources are all part of Giga’s solution.
An Conghui stated that “on the user side, we are confident in achieving our plan to deliver 70,000 units this year, because Giga has excellent product competitiveness, a great order volume, a foundation in manufacturing capabilities, and the efforts of the chip team. Future chip supplies will also have significant improvements.”
An Conghui revealed that Giga now has more than 7,000 team members, with over 3,800 R&D personnel, of which over 60% are software-related R&D personnel.
Giga’s success is the result of continuous accumulation and the full recognition of the logic of the intelligent EV market.
It is expected that by the end of 2022, the size of Giga stores across the country will exceed 300, including Giga Centers, Giga Spaces, and Giga Delivery Centers.
As of now, ZEEKR Power’s self-built charging stations have been launched in 20 cities nationwide, and the charging map continuously connects to the mainstream operators across the country. Third-party charging networks have covered 331 cities and nearly 330,000 charging terminals. Charging services have been launched in 30 cities, mobile charging services are available in six major cities nationwide, and home charging services have served car owners in 285 cities in 31 provinces.
Giga has built an ecosystem for intelligent EV users, which is the foundation upon which Giga moves forward and upwards.
An Conghui stated that in the future, Giga will further assist the advancement of the Blue Geely Action Strategy on the basis of Geely’s fully-formed intelligent EV ecosystem.
Moreover, as a technology-based enterprise, Giga’s future development cannot be separated from the capital market. Geely previously stated that Giga will pursue overseas listings in the future.In An Conghui’s opinion, upgrading independent brands and national brands is not only the mission of Jinkela, but also the mission of Chinese auto industry. While cars from all over the world run throughout China, why can’t Chinese cars run throughout the world?
This actually leads to another question. Does Jinkela want to build a brand or achieve quantity?
Judging from Jinkela’s performance in the past year, it has undoubtedly achieved success in brand upgrading which is also urgently needed by independent brands such as Geely, Great Wall, Changan and GAC Aion. Wei Jianjun pointed out that brand upgrading is the core of independent brands currently.
Therefore, for Jinkela, seeking quantity in the short term is not advisable. As for running throughout the world, that is a topic for future discussion. Defining the high-end pure electric market is the most urgent task for Jinkela.
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.