After the wild surge of the new energy wave, Zeekr has arrived at its “turning point.” From delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, to brand consolidation, to the explosive popularity of the Zeekr 9X and the restructuring of its intelligent driving platform, Li Shufu’s “One Geely” strategy is reshaping the ceiling of what a Chinese automaker can be. This is not just a brand adjustment. It is a redefinition of speed and system, luxury and trust.
From IPO to privatization: Zeekr’s “hard brake”
At the end of 2023, Zeekr landed on the New York Stock Exchange with the halo of being the “fastest IPO among the new forces.” At that time, it was seen as the dark horse most likely to run out as an independent high-end brand from within a traditional carmaking group. Yet one year later, this dark horse turned around. At the end of 2024, Geely announced a plan to acquire all of Zeekr’s publicly traded shares and take it private.
This “hard brake” was neither a hasty decision nor a simple reflection of market cooling. It was the most important move in Geely’s grand strategy of “integration and focus.”
In the past few years, Zeekr’s development could be described as smooth sailing: 500,000 units mass-produced in 44 months, annual sales breaking through 220,000 units, and even setting a global sales record for a shooting brake model. But behind the halo, Zeekr had long been in a state of high input and high losses — from 2021 to 2024, cumulative net losses exceeded 26 billion yuan (approximately USD 3.65 billion), and R&D investment exceeded 22 billion yuan (approximately USD 3.09 billion).
Zeekr’s speed was too fast, while the rhythm of profitability was too slow. The market was changing, and capital’s patience was thinning. “Returning to One Geely” is both a pragmatic act of tightening spending and the inevitable result of concentrating technology and resources. In the “Taizhou Declaration,” Li Shufu proposed: “We must assess the situation and avoid ineffective expansion.” Zeekr’s delisting is precisely the starting point of Geely’s comprehensive “recall and encirclement.”
Correction after the surge
Zeekr’s problem is not only financial. “Fast” was once its synonym, and it also became its most fatal hidden danger. Three refreshes in one year, frequent price adjustments, and a marketing-driven rhythm — all of this led Zeekr’s reputation to shift from “a new force in technological luxury” to “a symbol of betrayal.” New models iterated too quickly, early owners were full of complaints, and the marketing team’s internet-style “flash strike tactics” clashed with the auto industry’s “long-termism.”
After going through a public-opinion storm and a fallback in sales, Zeekr finally began to “turn right” — shifting from chasing hype to returning to product. Before the release of the 2025 Zeekr 001, the brand publicly announced upgrade plans two months in advance and promised that in 2026 it would no longer refresh models too frequently; at the same time it offered existing owners both software-and-hardware upgrades and “rights vouchers” as compensation. From “first deny the rumor, then stab in the back,” to “pre-announce and deliver on promises,” Zeekr finally understood the value of sincerity. This time, it is no longer trying to win applause through marketing, but to rebuild trust through action.
Geely’s systemic counterattack
If Zeekr’s adjustment is “re-centering the heart,” then the establishment of Ningbo Qianli Haohan Technology is Geely “re-centering the brain.” In October 2025, Geely announced the joint establishment of Ningbo Qianli Haohan Technology Co., Ltd. together with Zeekr and Qianli Intelligent Driving, with former Huawei Intelligent Automotive Business Unit president Wang Jun serving as legal representative. This is the landing moment of Geely’s “one-board intelligent driving” strategy — a comprehensive consolidation of intelligent driving R&D resources that were previously scattered across brands such as Zeekr, Galaxy, and Lynk & Co.
The logic behind this is very clear: within Geely, there were originally multiple intelligent driving R&D teams, each with its own investment and duplicated construction. Now, through the unified platform of Qianli Haohan, Geely has formed a complete chain from computing power and large models to algorithm deployment. Under the new platform’s “H1—H9 intelligent driving architecture,” coverage spans from basic driver assistance to L3 high-level intelligent driving, with the top-end H9 system reaching computing power as high as 1400 TOPS, which can be called a top-tier level among Chinese carmakers.
More importantly, Geely possesses real-world landing scenarios — a market base with annual sales of more than 3 million vehicles and a complete vehicle manufacturing network across the globe. This means intelligent driving technology will no longer remain in the lab, but can truly enter mass production. Wang Jun’s arrival also gives Geely’s intelligent driving system the experience needed to move from “in-house technology development” to “ecosystem commercialisation.” As the “convergence period” of intelligent driving arrives, Geely is using systematic integration to gain advantages in efficiency and scale.
9X goes viral: Zeekr’s “rebirth signal”
At the same time as integration was landing, Zeekr won the most important “battle” since the brand was founded — the launch of the Zeekr 9X. This flagship SUV, priced at 455,900–589,900 yuan (approximately USD 64,000–83,000), was once seen as too expensive, but the result was unexpected. Within two months of pre-sales, small deposits approached 80,000 units; within 13 minutes of official launch, firm orders exceeded 10,000; final firm orders are conservatively estimated at more than 40,000 units, and over 70% of users chose the top-spec version.
Against the backdrop of economic pressure and steadying consumption, such results are almost unbelievable. The success of the Zeekr 9X is inseparable from its “scarcity” and its “extreme technology”: the first domestically produced luxury SUV equipped with a 48V active stabilizer bar, equipped with the L3-level “Qianli Haohan H9” intelligent driving system, a 900V high-voltage platform, a tri-motor megawatt electric drive, a 145 kW range extender, 1.3-million-pixel projection headlights, Naim audio, “sky-and-earth doors” design… This is a model that uses “technical stacking” to redefine luxury. As the industry puts it, “The essence of luxury is scarcity, and the core of scarcity is extremity.”
The Zeekr 9X going viral is not just about leading in sales; it is also about responsibility and a way of thinking. Sustained innovation, rather than a short sprint. The core of the luxury market is “long-term leadership.” What Zeekr needs to do is not to rely on one or two blockbuster products to be briefly famous, but to, like Tesla and BMW, build brand barriers with technological moats. Frontier technologies such as Qianli Haohan intelligent driving and the AI digital chassis are the main battlegrounds it must cultivate over the long term.
Excellence in both efficiency and experience. Zeekr’s past problem was not that it could not build cars, but that its response was slow and its rhythm was chaotic. Now, with the organizational integration of “One Geely,” Zeekr has the opportunity to truly achieve “fast and steady.” From the sincere refresh of the 001 to the precise delivery of the 9X, consumers are rebuilding trust.
Brand confidence and global posture. The insufficient production capacity of the 9X is, in essence, still a psychological inertia of “not seeing itself as the big brother.” In the future, Zeekr needs to shift from “cautious testing” to “proactive offensive,” especially in overseas markets. The Geely EX5 has already launched in the United Kingdom, and Zeekr’s pace of going abroad is about to begin.
A true luxury brand must not only win in China, but also win in the world.
Future outlook
In just four years, Zeekr has completed a leap from “a dark horse among new forces” to “a systematized veteran.” It has experienced capital’s ups and downs and reputational turbulence, and it has also found a new direction in reflection. The Zeekr of today is no longer a car racing forward at full acceleration, but a flagship with a clear heading and a stable center of gravity. Every adjustment it has made — delisting, consolidation, intelligent driving, the 9X blockbuster — is paving the way for one goal: to let Geely truly possess a global brand that can represent China’s high-end manufacturing.
The auto industry is entering a new era of elimination and restructuring. Speed is no longer the only answer. System, trust, and sustained innovation are the real tickets to the future. Zeekr’s turn this time is not only its own rebirth; it may be the sign of maturity for the entire class of Chinese high-end automotive brands.
[Disclaimer]: The above content reflects analysis of publicly available information, expert insights, and BCC research. It does not constitute investment advice. BCC is not responsible for any losses resulting from reliance on the views expressed herein. Investors should exercise caution.