Geely starts the production of its premium electric vehicle Zeekr 001

Geely’s premium EV brand Zeekr officially started the production of its first vehicle in China. Last month, Chinese automaker announced the opening of its first facility called “Zeekr Intelligent Factory”, and also confirmed deliveries will start this October. As expected, yesterday Geely shared photos from the new manufacturing facility and unveiled the first Zeekr 001 rolled off the assembly line.

Geely has been desperately trying to get a grip of the China’s EV madness with couple of sub-brands, such as Geometry. Zeekr is the latest brand idea that comes from the famous Chinese automobile entreprenuer Li Shufu. It aims to be the ultimate premium brand among the Geely group companies. Zhejiang based automaker managed to raise $500 milllion in Zeekr’s first external funding last August, valuing the company around $9 billion. Semiconductor giant Intel’s venture capital division called Intel Capital, Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, and the world’s largest lithium battery manufacturer CATL are one of the top names investing in the “ZEEKR Project”.

Zeekr 001 Specs and Pricing

Premium brand’s first vehicle, Zeekr 001 comes in three different variants; one with a single electric motor and two other variants with dual motor all-wheel drive system. Based on the SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) modular platform, 001 can produce 544 horsepower and 768 Nm of torque with dual electric motors, from 0 to 100 km/h only takes 4.4 seconds, and it also offers up to 712 kilometers of range, thanks to a huge 100 kWh battery pack underneath the vehicle.

Geely will start delivering the first Zeekr 001 vehicles on October 23rd to Chinese customers. Starting price is 299,000 RMB which is around $46,750. Customers who want to purchase the long range dual motor option will have to spend more than $56,000 to get the best Zeekr 001 out there. High-range vehicle will be available in Europe in the near future.