Geely NEV needs to “speed up”

With technical improvements to Volvo, Geely has become a leader in the field of self-owned brand fuel vehicles. However, in the current hot new energy market, Geely has lost its past aura and is a bit desolate.

Looking at the Geely Group's sub-brands, in addition to the Polarstar and Geometry brands, the well-known Geely, Volvo, and Lynk & Co are still dominated by the sales of fuel vehicles. Even if there are new energy models, they are almost fuel-to-electric products.

For consumers, Geely’s new energy models are no longer the first choice, and new automakers represented by Tesla are more attractive.

Geely's ambitions for new energy vehicles can be glimpsed a few years ago. In 2015, Geely released the Blue Action "New Energy Strategy". The plan shows that by 2020, the sales of new energy vehicles will account for more than 90% of Geely's overall sales. The sales of PHEV and HEV accounted for 65%, and the sales of BEV accounted for 35%.

On the day of the event, An Conghui, CEO and President of the Geely Automobile Group, further stated: "Blue Geely Action" sounded the clarion call for Geely to continue to build its competitiveness and leading position in the field of energy vehicles. In the face of the new energy trend, Geely will not miss it, nor can it miss it.

If you look at the data only, Geely's plan that year has not been fulfilled. In 2020, Geely’s total sales of new energy and electrification products such as Geometry A, Geometry C, Emgrand EV, Emgrand GSe were 68,142 units, down nearly 40% from 2019, and only accounted for 5.2% of total sales.

Polestar and Geometry, which are positioning new energy brands, do not have a strong sense of presence in the market, causing Geely to lag behind in the electrification process. An industry insider said: “Polestar, which focuses on high-end brands, is too low-key, and the brand's influence has not been formed. Since its establishment, it has not formed extensive attention, and few people know it. For geometric brands that take the route of pro-popular prices, their models It has also changed from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, and has no advantage in competition. New automakers develop exclusive platforms for NEVs in order to occupy the market."

Learning from the experience and lessons of previous transformation failures, Geely Auto realized that in order to compete with Tesla and other new forces in building cars, it must jump out of the traditional car-making thinking and show the public a pure-blooded and technologically-sense electric Brand.

On March 23, Geely Automobile Holding Co., Ltd. announced its 2020 financial report and announced that Geely’s new electric brand name will be ZEEKR. At the same time, the brand belongs to Geely's upcoming new pure electric company, ZEEKR.

The homonym of "ZEEKR" in Chinese is "immediately", which is in line with Geely's desire for success in the NEV market. There is an urgent need to launch a model to change the current unfavorable situation. It is understood that ZEEKR is jointly invested by Geely Automobile and Geely Holding Group (including employee co-investment platform and user equity platform), of which Geely Automobile holds 51% of the shares and Geely Holding Group holds 49%. The new company plans to inject RMB 2 billion in cash, with Li Shufu as chairman and An Conghui as CEO.

According to the introduction, the first model of ZEEKR will be based on a new generation of pure electric architecture platform, SEA. This is a brand-new structure built by Geely over 4 years with an investment of more than 18 billion yuan.

SEA can support models with a wheelbase of 1,800mm to 3,300mm, covering all specifications from A-class cars to E-class cars. Not only can the electric vehicle's cruising range be greatly increased to 700 kilometers, but it can also ensure that the power battery has no attenuation within 200,000 kilometers.

The brand-new transformation is not only reflected in the platform, but also the sales model. It is understood that Geely will open a showroom and sell ZEEKR electric cars at a fixed price instead of selling them in dealers as traditionally.

The latest platform, technology, and the most experienced leaders lead the team. Such luxury equipment should not be underestimated. However, in the face of new domestic forces, veteran car companies such as Volkswagen and BMW are coming fiercely. SAIC IM, GAC AION and other first All new cars have been unveiled. Is it too late for the ZEEKR that is one step behind?

In the face of suspicions, Gui Shengyue, CEO of Geely Automobile, believes that ZEEKR has at least four major advantages: 1. SEA's technological leadership. Second, as a million-car company, Geely has introduced many world-class suppliers to greatly reduce costs and enhance the market competitiveness of its products. Third, the senior management can mobilize the resources of the entire group to fully cooperate with the development of ZEEKR. Fourth, as a traditional automobile manufacturer, Geely Automobile is more meticulous in manufacturing and quality control.

In the face of many strong competitors, in addition to making yourself stronger when you save yourself, it is also crucial to learn to find teammates. Only by joining forces can the advantages complement each other.

On January 11, 2021, Geely announced the formation of a smart electric vehicle company with Baidu; on January 13, Geely and Foxconn cooperated to establish JV. On January 19, Geely Automobile announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent to promote digital transformation.

Geely also has a long-standing layout in NEV's core components and power batteries. In 2018, Geely announced that its subsidiary Zhejiang Jirun Automobile Co., Ltd. has established a joint venture with CATL to engage in the research and development, manufacturing and sales of batteries, battery modules and battery packs. On December 24 last year, Geely and Farasis signed a strategic cooperation agreement to establish a joint venture to build a power battery production plant.

It can be seen that Geely's allies are leading companies in various fields. Compared with acting alone, the cooperation has given Geely more confidence in the process of transforming into intelligence and electrification, and it also laid a good foundation for the birth of the high-end brand ZEEKR.

Summary: Geely has high hopes for Polestar and Geometry brands, but sales have been mediocre. In addition to its own reasons, the environment at the time was not friendly enough to NEV, and consumer acceptance was low. In recent years, the country's policies in the field of electric vehicles have become more and more perfect, and NEVs have ushered in the best opportunity for development. At this time, Geely launched a new brand ZEEKR, which is expected to change its unfavorable situation in the NEV field.