{"id":246815,"date":"2023-11-29T17:49:43","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=246815"},"modified":"2023-11-29T17:49:43","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:49:43","slug":"chinas-zeekr-brand-has-big-plans-maybe-for-america-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/chinas-zeekr-brand-has-big-plans-maybe-for-america-too\/","title":{"rendered":"China's Zeekr Brand Has Big Plans. Maybe For America, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"
If the American automakers announced a premature victory lap on electric vehicles\u2014one that has maybe turned into a death spiral, depending on who you ask\u2014it\u2019s important to remember China has already lapped us twice over. That country is full of EVs at all sorts of price points that sell at exponentially higher numbers. But just how good are those Chinese EVs, really? That\u2019s hard to say, considering we’re talking about one of the world\u2019s most closed-off countries.<\/p>\n
I have long wanted to know for myself. To do that, I needed more time with Chinese cars, more conversations with Chinese manufacturers and analysts, and heck, even Chinese EV buyers. You can probably imagine how hard that is with global politics being what they are these days. I’d probably have an easier time finding authentic Mexican food in the middle of Wales.<\/p>\n
Yet on Oct. 24, I was lying awake in my bed pretending like it wasn\u2019t well past 3 a.m. and the sunrise wasn’t just around the corner. I flipped back between the endless addicting scroll of TikTok, snippets of YouTube videos, and an ever-expanding backlog of stalled drafts\u2014adding to my sleep debt with promises that the insomnia was worth it because I\u2019d soon stumble on a compelling angle that no one else had written about. Before my body conked out from pure exhaustion, my phone rumbled as I saw a new LinkedIn message. The person had no profile picture, fewer than a hundred connections, and a work history that had everything to do with finance, and nothing to do with cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of Zeekr, we would like to invite you to the Zeekr Test Drive, taking place on 10\/31 in New York,\u201d the message said. That was less than a week away, an incredibly tight timeline considering most vehicle press events take months of planning and invitations are sent out weeks in advance.<\/p>\n
Gallery: Zeekr Track Drive <\/h3>\n
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Why was Chinese automaker Zeekr in New York? Why was I contacted via LinkedIn, by someone in the Investor Relations department? Why were there zero rumblings on the internet about Zeekr’s presence in the U.S.? The program had little to no itinerary; what was Zeekr planning? Oh man, I was on high alert \u2013 the universe had presented me with an opportunity to have my desire for knowledge and clarity met, but I still had reservations. The last time I trifled with a foreign market EV startup, I ended up on a private island while a Vietnamese real estate conglomerate used its oodles of start-up cash to throw a damn near Beyonce-grade concert in hopes of distracting attendees from realizing that its cars were poorly made, underdeveloped shitboxes.<\/p>\n
There was only one way of finding out where Zeekr was on the spectrum; I was going to have to go to New York. And what I found is a car and a brand that\u2019s more crucial to the Geely Group\u2019s electric future than most people realize.<\/p>\n