China's premium electric vehicle brand "Zeekr" is accelerating its entry into the domestic market by establishing a Korean subsidiary and registering its trademark.
According to the corporate registration records of the Supreme Court on the 23rd, Zeekr established a corporation under the name "Zeekr Intelligent Technology Korea Co., Ltd." (hereinafter Zeekr Korea) on the 28th of last month.
Zeekr Korea stated that the purpose of its corporate establishment includes ▲ importing automobiles and related products ▲ distribution, sales, and service of automobiles and related products ▲ development, manufacturing, processing, sales, leasing, and service of automobile batteries and related systems and materials.
Chao Yu, the general manager of Zeekr in East Asia, is listed as the representative director. The capital is 100 million won and the address is in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Kim Nam-ho, former head of pre-sales at Polestar Korea, is currently the only employee registered as an inside director.
Geely Automobile Group, which has Zeekr as a subsidiary brand, confirmed on the 17th that it has also completed the domestic trademark registration for the Zeekr logo. There are analyses that 7X could be considered as Zeekr Korea's initial model, as it applied for the trademark of the Zeekr sports utility vehicle (SUV) "7X."
Zeekr is a rapidly growing brand that spun off from Geely Automobile in 2021, selling 71,941 units in 2022, 118,585 units in 2023, and 222,123 units last year.
Zeekr has a lineup that includes the wagon-type model "001", the sedan "007", the small SUV "X", and the mid-size SUV "7X." According to the Zeekr Europe website, the 7X rear-wheel drive (RWD) model is sold for €53,000 (approximately 84 million won) and the all-wheel drive (AWD) model for €63,000 (approximately 100 million won).
The 7X AWD model boasts a maximum output of 639 horsepower (PS) and can travel up to 543 km (based on WLTP standards) on a single charge, Zeekr noted. It takes 3.8 seconds to accelerate to 100 km/h.
Meanwhile, Zeekr raised $440 million (approximately 600 billion won) by going public on the New York Stock Exchange in May of last year. This was the largest initial public offering (IPO) by a Chinese corporation in the past three years.