The brand, positioned in the premium segment and named
"Zeekr", will be housed under Geely's to-be-launched EV entity
Lingling Technologies, according to three people, who declined to be named as
the plan is not yet public. Reuters reported the plans for Lingling last month.
Geely, the owner of Volvo Cars and 9.7 per cent of Daimler
AG, will roll out models under the new marque based on its open-source EV
chassis, announced in September and called Sustainable Experience Architecture
(SEA), the sources said.
It will be a new attempt to go up-market by Geely, and backs
founder and Chairman Li Shufu's long-held ambition to make premium cars
"like Mercedes-Benz" in a bid take on EV leader Tesla Inc.
Geely will open showrooms, or "hubs", in city
centres to sell cars at a fixed price, departing from traditions to sell cars
through dealerships - marketing tactics pioneered by Tesla, which last year saw
sales expand quickly in China, the world's biggest car market.
The plan follows a flurry of tie-ups by Geely earlier this
year as the automaker pursues its goal of becoming a leading EV contract
manufacturer and engineering service provider.
China's automakers largely compete with entry-level and
mass-market manufacturers including Volkswagen and Toyota, but EV maker Nio Inc
sells cars with higher prices and counts BMW as a rival.
Hangzhou-based Geely also plans a broad array of sales and
marketing strategies to seek deeper relationships with the EV buyers. It will
open lifestyle lines for clothing and accessories and launch a car owner's
club, tactics used by Nio, sources said.
Zeekr is also considering rolling out a share ownership plan
that allows customers to become shareholders of Lingling, which management
hopes will boost sales and the relationship between brand and customers.
Geely declined to comment.
Many conventional automakers have used a new brand to launch
their EV units. Geely's rivals including Great Wall, and SAIC Motor have rolled
out their respective new standalone EV brands.
China's government has heavily promoted new energy vehicles
(NEVs) - such as battery-powered, plug-in petrol-electric hybrid and hydrogen
fuel cell cars - in response to chronic air pollution and a warming climate,
spurring interest from technology companies and investors alike.
China forecasts NEVs will make up 20 per cent of its annual
auto sales by 2025 from around 5 per cent in 2020.
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