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Editor | Zhu Yaqian

New car becomes old car in less than half a year? The release of the new Zeekr 001 has caused complaints

In the fashion industry, Paris Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week, etc. are held every six months.

Who would have thought that in 2024, the frequency of car modifications would be the same as that of fashion weeks.

The new Zeekr 001, which was released on February 27 this year, has not even been six months old, and together with the Zeekr 007, the 2025 new car has been launched.

The biggest change: LiDAR + dual Orin as standard for all models

Let’s first take a quick look at the changes to the 2025 Zeekr 007 and Zeekr 001.

There are four main changes in Zeekr 007：

1. The battery is upgraded to Zeekr's self-developedSecond generation BRIC battery, the maximum charging rate reaches 5.5C, and it only takes 10 and a half minutes to charge from 10% to 80%;

2、All models are equipped with laser radar and dual OrinX intelligent driving chips as standard, in conjunction with the introduction of the large model and end-to-end concept of Haohan Intelligent Driving 2.0, complete the urban NZP commuting (commuting mode delivery will start in September, and full push will be achieved by the end of the year) - Urban NZP (NZP delivery without map will start at the end of the year, and it can be driven with navigation in the whole country) - Urban NZP+ (Urban NZP+ will be delivered in 2025, regardless of parking space, non-trapped roads, or cities) - the evolutionary path of full-scenario urban intelligent driving from parking space to parking space;

3、The cockpit system is upgraded to Zeekr AI OS, Eva is upgraded to AI Eva, with stronger semantic recognition capabilities;

4. Compared with the same version of the 2024 model, except for the four-wheel drive performance version,The prices of other versions have been reduced by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

The changes of Zeekr 001 are even simpler and can be explained in one sentence:

The prices of all series of vehicles remain unchanged based on the 2024 models, and the intelligent driving chips are replaced from 2 Mobileye EyeQ5H to 2 NVIDIA Orin-X.

The overall computing power has been increased from 48TOPS to 508TOPS, and the same Zeekr AI OS and Haohan Intelligent Driving 2.0 as Zeekr 007 will also be installed simultaneously.

Finally, Zeekr let go of its "comrade-in-arms" Mobileye, and the Mobileye solution that had been complained about by Zeekr 001 users for a long time was finally replaced.

However, perhaps to commemorate the days when they once struggled together, Zeekr 001 also simultaneously launched a 2025 WE version 95kWh rear-wheel drive model, which still uses the familiar Mobileye formula and is not equipped with laser radar.

As for why the Moblieye solution was retained, Zeekr gave two reasons:

1. Zeekr 001 is shipped overseas with Moblieye system;

2. The cooperation between Zeekr and Moblieye is getting better and better, and the Moblieye system will continue to iterate.

Well, how should I put it, let’s make a nostalgic model.

The disrupted rhythm

Since the news of the upcoming launch of the 2025 model came out, various jokes about it have emerged in the Zeekr car club, such as "You can buy 23, 24, 25 Zeekr 001s in a year" and "Whose family has three generations of good cars under one roof?"...

The owner of the Zeekr 007, who was "backstabbed" twice in just half a year, was also very hurt.

With multiple model changes in such a short period of time, Zeekr must have anticipated the emotions of most car owners.

If this is the case, why insist on launching new cars despite such a huge risk of public opinion?

In this regard, An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr Intelligent Technology, explained that the 2024 Zeekr 001 was planned at the beginning of last year and was scheduled to be launched in the second half of this year. However, the market situation has changed this year, so it was iterated in the first half of the year.

After the car was launched in February, the market voice hoped that it could use self-developed intelligent driving. Since then, Zeekr has started to develop the self-developed intelligent driving 001. The 2025 001 was originally planned to be launched at the end of the year. The reason for the advance is that the self-developed intelligent driving already has good conditions and foundation on 007, and the team transplanted it quickly.

The first half of what An Conghui said is easy to understand.

Judging from the wholesale sales trend of Zeekr 001, the sales of Zeekr 001 have not been stable since 2023, and even failed to reach the level of monthly sales of over 10,000 throughout the year. With new cars emerging in the market and Xiaomi about to debut, if consumers are not given new stimulation, the pillar product of Zeekr 001 is likely to decline, and the Zeekr brand will also be seriously damaged.

△Data source: China Passenger Car Association

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with launching the 2024 Zeekr 001 with "increased quantity and reduced price" six months in advance.

The 2024 Zeekr 001 has undergone a significant transformation. The core changes include upgrading the 800V high-voltage platform for the entire series, upgrading the maximum total power of the motor in the power system from 400kw to 580kw, standard laser radar and high-level intelligent driving, standard 8295 chip for the car machine, standard 28-speaker Yamaha original audio, etc. What is even more irresistible is that the price has been reduced by 31,000-57,000 yuan compared to the old model.

But the only thing that has not changed is that Zhijia still uses the Mobileye solution.

Zeekr users have been criticizing the intelligent driving for a long time, not after the model was launched in February as An Conghui said. But the 2024 model has not changed, and the only reasonable guess is thatZeekr’s self-developed intelligent driving is not ready yet.

If the 2024 Zeekr 001 was launched in the second half of this year as originally planned, it would be a completely evolved model. However, the rapid changes in the market have disrupted Zeekr's rhythm, forcing it to implement the improvements in two steps.

Zeekr urgently needs another pillar model

But even with such a rapid strategic shift, Zeekr’s “good days” did not last long.

With such great sincerity in the 2024 model, the market quickly responded. In the second quarter of this year, Zeekr 001's wholesale sales exceeded 10,000 for three consecutive months, stabilizing its position in the high-end pure electric vehicle market.

But soon, there was a turning point in July. The wholesale volume of Zeekr 001 fell back to 9,335 units, and began to lag behind one of its main competitors.Xiaomi SU7。

The display of data is often lagging, and car companies that are in control of order changes at the front end are already well aware of the increase in orders and inventory consumption.

In addition, my brothersLynk & CoThe first pure electric model Z10 has also been launched, and it is said to be priced between 150,000 and 200,000 yuan. If it is true, it will have a great impact on Zeekr 001.

△ Lynk & Co Z10

On the other hand, at a time when everyone is looking for large models and end-to-end solutions, the Mobileye solution with a computing power of only 48TOPS is really not enough, and the space for subsequent OTA will also be limited.

In addition, Mobileye's "black box delivery" also prevents Zeekr from participating in the research and development of core intelligent driving algorithms, affecting the long-term development of intelligent driving functions. At the same time, because Mobileye uses REM maps, information needs to be uploaded to the cloud for secondary screening, labeling, and testing. Currently, the process must be completed manually, so the efficiency of map collection and construction is not high. This also affects Zeekr's opening speed. As of April this year, Zeekr's intelligent driving high-speed NZP has opened 65 cities, and the city NZP is still in the testing stage, which is completely not in the same echelon as other players.

Zeekr’s urgency is written all over its face.

From the sales trends of Zeekr’s various models in the past three years, it can be seen that Zeekr 001 has always shouldered the important task of “sales leader” for Zeekr.From January to July this year, Zeekr 001 still accounted for 62% of Zeekr’s total sales.

Compared with the mainstream new energy vehicle companies that are performing well in the market,BYDThis all-round player, fromTeslaofModel 3andModel Y, ideal L6 and L7, and thenZero RunC10, C11 and T03,AionAion Y andAion S，Those that can maintain their position in the first tier in terms of delivery volume at least have a dual-pillar configuration.

In other words, with the support of self-research and self-production,Zeekr urgently needs a new hit car to increase the certainty of its performance.

Although Zeekr MIX and Zeekr 7X will be launched this year, it takes time from listing to delivery, and the contribution of the two to Zeekr's sales target this year will not be too great.

Judging from the current performance,Zeekr 007 is the only choice.

Therefore, this time the Zeekr 007 also solved the problem that only high-priced models had laser radars before. After the entire series was equipped with laser radars as standard, the last missing point was made up.

Zeekr’s sales target this year is 230,000 vehicles, and it has currently achieved 45%, which puts it under considerable pressure.

After going public, Zeekr still faces the problem of balancing sales and profits. Although it is an adult, it is too difficult to have everything.

"We cannot afford to make any mistakes this year. If we make a mistake, we will lose everything." An Conghui said this when the 2024 Zeekr 001 was launched. How to deal with these problems that come one after another is a test for everyone in Zeekr.