By 2023, Geely's Zeekr EV Brand Intends to Triple Sales And Expand in Europe

The CEO of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Zeekr, Andy An, told Reuters on Thursday that the company aims to triple sales to about 140,000 vehicles in 2023 and expand into Europe.

Zeekr, a brand created by the Chinese carmaker Geely, sold 72,000 automobiles in China in 2022. Its 001 model, priced at about 300,000 yuan ($43,600), competes on the increasingly competitive Chinese market with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc's Model Y crossover and other premium automobiles.

In response to rising competition from Chinese manufacturers like as Zeekr, Tesla has decreased pricing and output in China. In December, Tesla sales fell to their lowest point in the past five months.

This month, manufacture of the Zeekr 009 model will commence.

In an interview at the annual technology show CES 2023 in Las Vegas, An noted that Europe was a growth region for Zeekr. Later this year, Zeekr plans to begin selling vehicles equipped with Mobileye's driver assistance technologies.

Geely, the parent company of Zeekr, maintains a controlling ownership in Volvo Car AB, which serves as its European base.

Zeekr and Waymo, the robotaxi branch of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), showed a ride service vehicle prototype at CES.

According to An, Zeekr intends to build vehicles for Waymo in China, but U.S. production is conceivable "depending on market conditions."

According to an official, Zeekr has no ambitions to enter the U.S. consumer market.

Last month, Zeekr filed for an initial public offering in the United States without disclosing the deal's size or timeline. Reuters had reported that Zeekr's IPO objective was to raise over $1 billion and be valued at over $10 billion.