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Speaking to CarsGuide at a brand preview event in China, Zeekr’s Australian head of marketing Andrew Haurissa explained that early signs indicated its premium messaging was attracting buyers from the most steadfast luxury brands.
While Australia is about to be inundated with an array of new Chinese brands, Geely’s luxury Zeekr arm will be the first to reach beyond the mainstream segment, to challenge perhaps the most difficult corner of the market — the luxury buyer.
In this segment, where value is less important and brand cachet survives above all, is Zeekr hitting the mark?
According to Haurissa, despite the brand’s strategy of undercutting its key rivals in the space, early signs had buyers coming from Volvo, BMW, and more.
“They’re mostly from premium brands” he says of the buyers interested in its first two models, the X small SUV and 009 people mover “These are people who were looking to buy Volvos for example, or even BMWs, sales we’ve converted over from those brands.
“The interest coming from the mainstream part of the market I think is because of the amount of noise in the market on all of the new players coming from China”
“But ultimately our buyers are looking away from price points, they’re attracted by a Zeekr vehicle itself”
He says primarily what buyers are telling the brand in its initial roll-out phase, is more that they are attracted by the futuristic design and having better cabin tech than many other options in the luxury space.
“What we found about those just looking for a Chinese vehicle is that they’re surprised [the X] isn’t as big as other Chinese cars. These buyers are less well informed and more concerned about price-point. They might tell us the car is impressive but the price point isn’t right."
He said ultimately buyers weren’t stepping up from mainstream brands despite the more accessible price point, and that the initial phase, at least, had customers leaning more toward the top-spec all-wheel drive version ($64,900 before on-road costs). An early indicator of the brand’s more luxury messaging getting through.
But the comparatively low price-point was still a draw according to Haurissa “It’s a compromise we’re making, and people have the mindset that because you’re an unknown brand, you should be more affordable”
“But we say come and compare us like-for-like and you’ll see the difference.”
Additionally, lower prices are still a formula for success specifically in the premium EV segment, as many brands are struggling to gain traction with products further up the price-scale.
“The premium market has remained strong, but with EVs there are players out there who are definitely doing it right” he says, perhaps a not-so-veiled hint at BMW’s more competitively priced EVs like the iX1, iX3, and iX SUVs selling much better than rival products further up the price-scale from Mercedes-Benz and others, in no small part due to some versions getting in under the LCT threshold for fuel efficient vehicles.
Additionally, Haurissa said there’s been a notable shift in the last two years around what once rusted-on buyers are willing to try “The average 55-plus buyer for the first time is very open to trying new things – it’s a very interesting time in the market” he said.
“You have to remember what ‘premium’ or ‘luxury’ means is different things to different groups in the market” pointing out that Zeekr was breaking new ground and not “sugarcoating” its status as a Chinese brand.
“We’re premium and we’re Chinese. We’re not a European brand with 100 years of history. If we’re compared to the Europeans - let the user have that discussion, it’s just up to us to provide the best product we can.”
Zeekr will not only need to gain buyers from the likes of BMW, Volvo, and Mercedes though, as it will also go into battle in 2025 against other more aspirational challenger brands from China like Xpeng, Chery’s Jaecoo, and potentially MG’s IM Motors.
One thing is for sure, the sales charts this time in 12 months are set to look very different.
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