Zeekr Aims To Be First Chinese Luxury Brand To Challenge Rolls-Royce

Chinese cars are improving in quality all the time, and anyone who thinks their level of engineering is behind Western companies really hasn’t been paying attention. But one aspect that doesn’t come with technical innovation is a heritage of luxury. Zeekr, part of Chinese giant Geely, hopes to change that. I talked to the company’s Vice President of Global Design, Stefan Sielaff, about how far he intends to take Zeekr into the luxury space. He’s aiming high.

Zeekr: European Design, Chinese Rapid Development

“Our direct competitors will be Rolls-Royce and Maybach in the future,” he says. “No guts, no glory.” This is no idle dream, either. Sielaff’s illustrious automotive design career began at Audi, followed by a shift to Mercedes-Benz, and then a return to the Volkswagen Group culminating in six years as Design Director at Bentley. So he knows a thing or two about luxury cars. But there are clear cultural differences between European and Chinese automakers.

“It was quite a big journey moving from Bentley to Zeekr,” he says. However, he is still designing from a European base. “The Zeekr design headquarters is in Gothenburg in Sweden.” Sielaff doesn’t see such a big divide between European and Chinese designs anymore. “When you look at Chinese cars, which are now the majority in China, especially in the electric market, they don’t look dramatically different. Whether it’s a European design director or a Chinese one, the overall perception of design is not so varied.”

Sielaff sees the rapidity of development as a key benefit for China, saying: “Beside all the quality and the technology advantages Chinese brands have, it is also the speed, how we work together, how we accelerate in the processes, how strongly we use digital processes in every respect, whether it’s in the R and D, in the design, but even in the manufacturing, everything is so heavily digitalized. This enables us to deliver a car from the first sketch to the to the product in two years.”

The shift upmarket for Zeekr is part of a restructuring at Geely. “We are in the process of doing a merger in between Lynk & Co and Zeekr into the Zeekr Group, which helps us to use efficiencies and to accentuate the differentiation between these two brands more clearly,” says Sielaff. “Zeekr will be moving upwards into the premium luxury level, whereas Lynk & Co will be lower. It’s not so different to the Volkswagen Group where Audi and Porsche operate in a very similar market segment but with contrasting customers.”

Enter The Zeekr 9X

The first car to arrive that will take Zeekr in this direction is the 9X, which was unveiled at the Chinese car show Auto Shanghai last week. This is a flagship SUV with what Zeekr is calling a “Super Hybrid System” that blends the best of BEVs and PHEVs together. It will deploy CATL’s Xiaoyao battery to deliver an all-electric range exceeding 380km (237 miles), which Zeekr claims is the longest among hybrid SUVs globally. This is in the Chinese testing cycle, however, so WLTP is 280km (175 miles) and EPA will be less. The exact size of this battery has not been disclosed.

Zeekr also claims the 9X will accelerate from 0 to 62mph in just 3 seconds, using a two-liter turbo hybrid gasoline engine with 205 kW (275hp), plus undisclosed electric motor power. This will be accompanied by a 900V system promising 1.3MW charging, taking under 10 minutes to go from 20 to 80%. So owners should expect a powerful onslaught when hitting the accelerator or replenishing the battery.

Ride quality will be enhanced by industry-leadig dual-chamber air suspension and active stabilizer bars. For those who like their luxury to glitter, the 9X will boast 42,242 laser-engraved, diamond-cut lamp facets, creating a captivating “starry sky” effect. Inside, the SUV debuts Zeekr’s latest G-Pilot H9 autonomous driving system, powered by dual NVIDIA DRIVE Thor chips, 5 LiDAR sensors, and a massing 1,400 TOPS computing power, enabling advanced L3-level driving capabilities. The Zeekr 9X is set for a global launch in Q3 2025. One website has compared the 9X to a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a car that starts at over $400,000 and then heads close to half a million.

The 9X is clearly a step up from Zeekr cars currently on sale in Europe, such as the recently released 7X. However, Zeekr already has a vehicle selling well that is proving the potential of a more luxury-focused strategy, at least in China. The Zeekr 009 Grand sells as many as 4,000 units a month in its local market, according to the company. This is a luxury minivan that comes with a version incorporating two luxurious rear massage lounge seats in the rear and a giant video screen that even exceeds the one available as an option with BMW’s impressive i7. More sensibly six-seated versions are available, but the one with the giant screen is like travelling around in a mobile home cinema designed for royalty.

“The Zeekr 009 and 9x show, despite the fact this is only the beginning of the story, that Zeekr is really moving more and more into the luxury segment,” says Sielaff. “Zeekr will operate in this field of new luxury. Customers will get a huge variety of individualistic solutions, including cars in limited editions that they can cocreate. We do this already with the 009. You have the possibility to get the car with a lot of chrome, but you can also choose a very little amount of chrome and get more body color or more tinted materials that changes the character of the car dramatically. This is already making things more luxurious, because you are not forcing customers to go in one direction. You deliver a spectrum, which is a higher level of complexity. But it is a signal of a luxury product that you can individualize it more. Another signal is having artisan interiors with handcrafted elements.”

As a taster of things to come, another of Geely’s brands Lynk & Co is just launching the 900, which is very clearly aimed at the luxury SUV market currently dominated by Range Rover. This is a plug-in hybrid combining a two-liter turbocharged engine with electric motors that Lynk & Co claims deliver an incredible 872hp, enabling a zero to 62mph spring in just 4.3 seconds. I drove this car in China, and it was decidedly rapid in a straight line. Its air suspension was also one of the smoothest that I’ve experienced, although Range Rover still holds the comfort crown. It’s an impressive vehicle with a superb interior.

Zeekr Targets Affluent Young Chinese Car Buyers

However, while Zeekr goes up market and Lynk & Co focuses on more youthful lifestyle, Sielaff sees luxury car buyers getting younger. “In China, luxury customers are 30-40 years old, much younger than for the traditional brands in Europe,” he says. “These traditional luxury brands have the big advantage of heritage, but they also have the bigger disadvantage of that heritage, because they traditionally deal with rather conservative buyers. Our new customers in China in the luxury segment are more open for new things, which are more focused on authentic materials and good craftsmanship, maybe sometimes also even using Chinese influence. For example, we are experimenting with using materials like jade or porcelain in the future, which will be beautiful.”

Sielaff sees no direct competitor coming from within China to Zeekr’s luxury intentions, either, not even Changan’s Avatr. “Avatr has fantastic proportions, but you need always to have a vision,” he says. “Zeekr will be the first true Chinese brand that is delivering authentic new luxury to the customer. We must compensate for the fact that we have no heritage by delivering higher levels of everything else, including technology, quality, and design. You need to have an optimistic vision. And this is what I find in China.”