ZEEKR engages in another price war

Author | Huang Yu

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

At the beginning of the year, ZEEKR, which had previously stated that it would not engage in a "price war," has already been forced into this vortex.

Although sales in the first half of the year increased by over 100% year-on-year, ZEEKR still faces significant challenges. On one hand, it has not been able to shake off its excessive reliance on the ZEEKR 001 model, and on the other hand, there is still a considerable gap to achieve the annual sales target. It needs more bold actions, so in the second half of the year, the first shot of promotion targeted the product with the lowest sales under its brand - ZEEKR X.

On the evening of July 1st, ZEEKR announced the official launch of the 2025 ZEEKR X model, with an official retail price starting at 200,000 yuan. The limited-time purchase price in July starts at 179,000 yuan, indirectly countering the "price war."

As the third model launched under ZEEKR, this is already the second facelift of ZEEKR X this year, with the 2024 model being launched less than half a year ago. Compared to the previous model, the 2025 ZEEKR X has a direct price reduction of 21,000 yuan.

In the current intense market environment, rumors of a price reduction for the 2025 ZEEKR X model have long been circulating, with some even claiming that it can be purchased for less than 130,000 yuan. Shortly before ZEEKR officially announced the selling price, the legal department of ZEEKR had already issued a statement clarifying that the online rumors about the "2025 ZEEKR X model price information" were misleading and untrue.

Now that the official selling price has been set, although there has not been a significant price reduction as rumored earlier, the current price of ZEEKR X has still broken the lowest price in this series. For less than 180,000 yuan, consumers can now own a ZEEKR X.

The 2025 ZEEKR X has 3 models, including the four-seat rear-wheel-drive Magic Square version and the five-seat four-wheel-drive Sport version starting at 200,000 yuan, as well as the four-seat four-wheel-drive Magic Square version starting at 220,000 yuan, with the 2.1 thousand yuan discount applying to the four-seat rear-wheel-drive Magic Square version and the five-seat four-wheel-drive Sport version.

In terms of various configurations, compared to the 2024 model, the 2025 ZEEKR X has not changed much. Therefore, some consumers have expressed that in the current situation where major new energy vehicle companies are reducing prices, the attractiveness of the new version of ZEEKR X with this price reduction is limited.

The first ZEEKR X was officially launched in April last year, positioned as a new energy compact luxury SUV with a starting price of 189,800 yuan, making it the lowest-priced model of ZEEKR cars, comparable to "boutique small cars" like smart and MINI.

For ZEEKR, which was only established two years ago at the time, ZEEKR X, as the third product launched following the mid-size sedan ZEEKR 001 and the mid-size MPV ZEEKR 009, bears the responsibility of filling the product line gap and further driving sales growth. The compact segment market has always been a sub-market for volume and market share improvement.

At the ZEEKR X launch event, ZEEKR CEO An Conghui once stated that ZEEKR X is aimed at the largest compact luxury market in China and even globally In a market dominated by luxury brands, there are no decent luxury products. ZEEKR X, on the other hand, ambitiously aims to create a new benchmark for compact luxury.

However, over a year since its listing, ZEEKR X's sales seem to have not lived up to the high expectations.

Public data shows that initially, ZEEKR X's sales performance was commendable, with monthly sales exceeding 4,700 units at one point last year. However, since December last year, ZEEKR X's sales have been on a downward trend, with monthly sales from February to May this year remaining at around 400 units.

Currently, ZEEKR has four main models: ZEEKR 001, ZEEKR 007, ZEEKR 009, and ZEEKR X. Among them, the first model, ZEEKR 001, still accounts for the majority of ZEEKR's sales. Since the beginning of this year, ZEEKR X's sales have been almost on par with the ZEEKR 009, priced between 500,000 to 789,000 yuan, with the sales in May accounting for only around 2-3%.

In addition to intense market competition, several industry insiders believe that the listing of ZEEKR 007 in December last year also had a significant impact on ZEEKR X's sales. Positioned as a mid-sized sedan, ZEEKR 007 has a starting price of 209,900 yuan, which may be more attractive to consumers from a cost-effective perspective.

In terms of sales, ZEEKR 007 has maintained sales of around 4,000 units since the beginning of this year.

Furthermore, some consumers have expressed that they are not willing to spend money on "boutique small cars".

As an independently listed company, ZEEKR must quickly turn losses into profits and achieve its target of delivering 230,000 units for the whole year. Investors do not have much time to cultivate the consumer mindset for compact luxury brands.

ZEEKR must quickly boost ZEEKR X's sales to become a new growth driver. On July 1st, ZEEKR announced its latest delivery figures, with over 20,000 units delivered in June for the first time, totaling 87,870 units from January to June, a year-on-year increase of 106%. The annual sales completion rate is about 38.3%, which is basically within the range of most industry players' annual sales target completion rates, but there is still a lot of pressure to achieve the annual sales target.

Moreover, on July 1st, ZEEKR's parent company Geely Auto raised its annual sales target from the previous expectation of 1.9 million units to 2 million units. ZEEKR also needs to shoulder the responsibility of sales, with price reductions and promotions becoming the most effective path.

It is reported that alongside the launch of the 2025 ZEEKR X, ZEEKR officially announced new limited-time purchase benefits for ZEEKR 007 and ZEEKR 001, which can be seen as a disguised price reduction.

Additionally, at Geely Auto's first-quarter performance meeting on July 2nd, An Conghui stated that ZEEKR will launch the MIX and the mid-to-large-sized SUV with the internal code CX1E in August and September this year. Based on this, ZEEKR plans to achieve monthly deliveries of 20,000 units in the third quarter of this year and 30,000 units in the fourth quarter, with a target of 15% gross profit margin for the whole year By next year, ZEEKR will launch three new models, including two SUVs and a smaller hunting vehicle compared to the 001, to further enrich its product line.

At the same time, globalization is also a key focus for ZEEKR. In June, ZEEKR announced its entry into right-hand drive markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia, with the first batch of ZEEKR 001 and ZEEKR X officially shipped to Mexico. As of now, ZEEKR has entered nearly 30 international mainstream markets including Sweden, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Mexico.

An Conghui revealed that next, ZEEKR will adopt a network layout of direct operation plus dealers in the European market. The localization production process of ZEEKR in Europe is actively progressing, and will be disclosed at the appropriate time.

It is reported that by the end of 2024, ZEEKR will enter 50 countries and regions globally, including 8 luxury markets in Europe, as well as countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Australia.

As industry competition intensifies, most car companies are either passively or actively joining this price war. Facing the dual challenges of consumers and the capital market, ZEEKR naturally must go all out