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Recently, Zeekr Auto has been involved in constant turmoil.

According to Blue Whale News, on the afternoon of August 14, hundreds of old Zeekr car owners surrounded the Zeekr headquarters building in Hangzhou to defend their rights. It is understood that on August 13, Zeekr Automobile launched the 2025 Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 007 at the new car launch conference. The two models have been upgraded in terms of intelligent driving and car-machine systems. However, the prices of various configurations have generally been reduced by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. This means that Zeekr has increased the quantity and reduced the price, but it has made many old car owners feel "backstabbed", which is the root cause of many old car owners' rights protection.

According to a report by Blue Whale News, the demands of car owners who "defended their rights" at the Zeekr Building headquarters in Hangzhou mainly included two aspects: one was a free upgrade to the 2025 intelligent driving solution, and the other was compensation for losses and price differences. It was reported that some car owners received 20,000 yuan in compensation, signed a confidentiality agreement and left, but the Zeekr car owners at the scene denied this statement, saying "there is currently no solution."

As the incident fermented, it quickly became a hot topic. According to a report by The Paper on August 15, Zeekr responded to the "rights protection" incident on its official Weibo account that day, saying that "the old model cannot be replaced because Zeekr 001 uses the Haohan Intelligent Driving Solution, which uses a different layout scheme from the Mobileye Intelligent Driving Solution in terms of underlying chips, system control, and wiring harness layout. They are two different solutions at the system and hardware levels."

According to the report, Zeekr responded to the media, saying: "We understand and respect the feelings of users, and we are well aware of the importance of trust. Therefore, Zeekr provides old car owners with car purchase vouchers worth 10,000 yuan, so that old car owners can buy the latest Zeekr products at the best price." This is also the compensation plan currently made by Zeekr for old car owners, although the plan cannot meet the expectations of the old car owners who are seeking rights protection.

According to a report by Phoenix.com Technology on August 16, Zeekr officials made the latest statement on the evening of August 15: The first owners of new 001, 001FR, 007, and X cars whose delivery was completed before 20:00 (inclusive) on August 13, or the first owners of new 009 and 009 Brilliance cars whose orders were locked before 20:00 (inclusive) on August 13, can enjoy an additional replacement subsidy of 10,000 yuan when purchasing new 001, 001FR, and 007; the first owners of new 001, 001FR, 007, and X cars whose delivery was completed before 21:00 (inclusive) on July 19, or the first owners of new 009/009 Brilliance cars whose delivery was completed/locked before 21:00 (inclusive) on July 19, can enjoy an additional replacement subsidy of 10,000 yuan/30,000 yuan respectively when purchasing new 009 and 009 Brilliance.

At the same time, the legal department of Zeekr also issued a statement saying: "Regarding the launch of Zeekr's 2025 new products, a large number of organized rumors, photoshopped pictures, fabricated personal attacks and other false information have appeared on the Internet platform recently. The company has fixed the relevant evidence and reported to the police, and will severely investigate the legal responsibilities of all rumor makers in accordance with the law."

In May this year, Zeekr was successfully listed on the Nasdaq with an issue price of US$21 per share. However, as of the close of August 14, the stock price was US$14.970, down 2.48%, 29% below the issue price. Compared with the high of US$28.95 on May 21, it has fallen 48.3%. The current market value is US$3.706 billion, which is less than the market values ​​of US$7.764 billion, US$6.336 billion and US$19.95 billion of "NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto" in the same period.

A “troubled time” for Zeekr?

Selling three models at the same time in one year is actually a reflection of the technical strength of a new car manufacturer that has only been established for three years and listed for only a few months. However, this new car launch conference made old car owners feel "stabbed in the back".

Originally, the first collective appearance of Jiang Jun and Chen Qi, two senior executives of Huawei's intelligent system, at Zeekr might have attracted more attention, but unexpectedly, the old owners of Zeekr made Zeekr a hot topic by "protecting their rights".

In fact, most media outlets have a positive attitude towards the appearance of Huawei's smart system executives, because the arrival of the Huawei background team quickly made up for Zeekr's shortcomings in intelligence. However, a small number of media outlets questioned whether Zeekr's rapid release of new cars was "involution".

Zeekr's turmoil comes not only from old car owners defending their rights, but also from competitors "adding insult to injury". According to a report by The Paper on August 16, Cadillac launched an "immediate replacement" service through its official microblog that evening, implicitly mocking Zeekr's two model changes in half a year. Cadillac's poster directly used the word "ZEEKER" (Zeekr's English name), and the copywriting "I'm not afraid of sharpening the sword three times a year, giving you the confidence to maintain the value of 20% off for three years" is equivalent to mocking Zeekr by name.

Zeekr responded quickly to Cadillac's "ridicule". Zeekr Vice President Zhu Ling posted on his social account, "Heroes are old, sunset glow. Once a classic, it is finally a wave. In the electric era, China is rising, and Detroit is no longer glorious. The entry-level Zeekr 007 only costs 20.99W standard configuration, a single motor is 310KW, dual orins, laser radar, 8295... faster than you, smarter than you, younger than you, and more affordable than you... Time will not go back, history will not go back, see you in my mirror."

Some netizens think this response is very good. It does not deny Cadillac's past glory, and uses words such as "hero" and "classic" to praise it. It also uses words such as "sunset" and "fading", and finally mentions that Detroit is no longer glorious, and Detroit is the headquarters of Cadillac. Especially the sentence "faster than you, smarter than you, and more affordable than you", which is not inferior to the other party.

However, some netizens disagreed, saying that Zeekr should not play with national sentiments. It is normal for a company to make money, but playing with national sentiments is a different story. Some netizens also questioned that Zeekr only made a small upgrade and modification, and it could not be called a facelift.

In response to netizens' questions, Zeekr closed comments at its new product launch conference.

New car becomes "old model"?

In April 2021, Zeekr released its first product, Zeekr 001, which is a hunting car model built on the SEA vast architecture. Both the body size and performance have reached the leading position in the same class.

With the continuous updating of intelligent driving technology, Zeekr is also constantly updating its own car models.On January 1, 2023, Zeekr released the 2023 001. On February 27 of this year, the 2024 model was officially launched. In addition, on August 13, the 2025 model was launched. From the facelift at the beginning of 2023 to now,In more than a year, Zeekr 001 has undergone three modifications.

In particular, the model will be remodeled again from the end of February to August 13, 2024, with a gap of less than half a year.Car companies such as BYD and Tesla are far less frequent in terms of model changes than Zeekr, which has led to heated discussions among old Zeekr car owners about Zeekr's excessively frequent model changes.

The Zeekr 001, which was redesigned on August 13, not only has a major upgrade in the intelligent driving link, but also replaced Mobileye's dual EyeQ5H solution with Nvidia's dual Orin solution, making up for the shortcomings of intelligent driving that users have been complaining about before, and also made price cuts. Specifically, the 2024 Zeekr 001 released by Zeekr at the end of February this year was priced at 269,000 to 329,000 yuan. The price range of the 2025 Zeekr 001 launched this time is 259,000 to 329,000 yuan. The price of the new 001 is lower than that of the previous version of the Zeekr 001. In addition to the top configuration of the four-wheel drive, the price of each configuration of the Zeekr 007 has generally been reduced by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

With continuous modifications, users can now buy three different models of Zeekr 001 models on Zeekr. This gives new users more choices, but it does not seem to be friendly to car owners who bought "old" models before, because even the Zeekr 001 purchased at the beginning of 2023 is only more than a year old and is still a quasi-new car, but even such a quasi-new car is already an old model.

Zhang Zhiyong, an automotive journalist, believes that price cuts are the main reason for the anger of old car owners, but the current technological iteration in China's new energy vehicle industry is indeed too fast, which is also the current situation of the industry. Zhang Zhiyong pointed out that the development of China's new energy vehicle industry is currently in an explosive period, and the development trajectory of the explosive period is like this, with rapid technological iterations, which is reflected in the fact that car companies certainly expect new technologies to be put into production quickly to enhance their market competitiveness.

Zhang Zhiyong also pointed out, "Although the emotions of old car owners can be understood, I think it is reasonable and legal for manufacturers to reduce prices. Cars and houses are essentially commodities, and price increases and price cuts are normal market behaviors. Because this rights protection has no clear legal support."

Director Lin Rencong of Yingcong Law Firm also believes that because there is no legal support for rights protection after price reduction, it is easy to constitute the crime of provoking disturbances. "Car dealers will take into account their own reputation and are not willing to pursue the legal responsibility of the so-called rights defenders. Once the car companies are serious, the law will support the companies. According to Article 23, Paragraph 2 of the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law", the rights defenders will be involved in the Public Security Administration Punishment Regulations, and in serious cases, they may even be suspected of provoking disturbances. Whether consumers have the right to protect their rights when facing price reductions depends on whether the merchant's behavior constitutes price fraud or false advertising. If the merchant is fraudulent, consumers have the right to demand compensation. Zeekr did not violate the above legal provisions in this incident."

Loss of 22.554 billion yuan

Before Zeekr was separated from Geely, its revenue in 2020 was 3.185 billion yuan and its net profit was 103.6 million yuan. After the separation, Zeekr fell into a state of continuous losses.

According to the financial report, from 2021 to 2023, Zeekr's revenue was 6.228 billion yuan, 31.9 billion yuan and 51.67 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 104.94%, 388.69% and 61.99%. In particular, the growth rate in 2022 exceeded that of many new car-making forces. The net profit attributable to the parent company in the same period was -4.363 billion yuan, -7.934 billion yuan and -8.347 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of -4310.79%, -81.86% and -5.21%.

According to the financial report, in the first quarter of 2024, Zeekr's revenue was 14.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.95%; the net profit attributable to the parent was -2.014 billion yuan, an increase of 15.87% compared with the net profit attributable to the parent of -2.349 billion yuan in the same period last year. The loss narrowed significantly in the first quarter of this year, but it is still in a loss state. From 2020 to the first quarter of 2024, Zeekr's total loss was 22.554 billion yuan. Xiaopeng's loss in the same period was 28.48 billion yuan, and Zeekr's loss is about to catch up with Xiaopeng. In 2023, Zeekr's sales will be 118,685 vehicles, and Xiaopeng's sales will be 141,601 vehicles. Zeekr's sales lag behind Xiaopeng by 22,916 vehicles.

According to the financial report, in the first half of this year, Xpeng's cumulative sales were 52,028 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 26%, and Zeekr's sales in the first half of 2024 were 87,870 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 106%. Zeekr's sales have surpassed Xpeng, and its growth rate is also significantly higher than Xpeng. In July, Xpeng sold 11,145 vehicles, while Zeekr sold 15,655 vehicles in the same period, continuing to outperform Xpeng in sales. This achievement not only demonstrates Zeekr's strong performance in the new energy vehicle market, but also reflects the continuous improvement of its product strength and market competitiveness.

It can be seen from the financial report that Zeekr's sales gross profit margin is not stable. The sales gross profit margin was 15.90% in 2021 and dropped to 7.75% in 2022. It may be the sharp decline in gross profit margin that led to the 388.69% increase in revenue in 2022. In 2023, Zeekr's sales gross profit margin increased to 13.26%, and Zeekr's revenue growth rate dropped to 61.99% that year.

In the first quarter of 2024, Zeekr's gross profit margin continued to drop to 11.80%. The gross profit margins in the previous three quarters were 12.26%, 16.30% and 14.23% respectively. In particular, it fell by 2.43 percentage points from the gross profit margin of 14.23% in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Zeekr is one of the fastest growing new car manufacturers, and its technical strength and vehicle model innovation have always attracted much attention from the market. In the face of car owners' rights protection incidents, Zeekr should adopt a more mature and responsible attitude and should also adhere to its own technological advantages.

Technological innovation is one of the core competitiveness of the Zeekr brand and the key to attracting consumers. Feedback and rights protection from car owners are precious opportunities for brand improvement and perfection. Zeekr should use this as a driving force to continuously optimize products and services to meet the growing needs of consumers. It should also take this as an opportunity to more firmly walk on the road of technological innovation and vehicle model upgrades to provide consumers with better products and services.

Author|Meng Xiao