Leaves car owners both loving and hating it.

Selecting the right time to launch new cars is undoubtedly a significant challenge for manufacturers. If the launch intervals are too long, it may cause users to "forget" and allow competitors to seize opportunities in the fiercely competitive market. Conversely, if intervals are too short, older car owners may feel betrayed, thinking they have been "stabbed in the back." An excellent example can be found in ZEEKR, which has faced unceasing skepticism online since suddenly announcing the August 13 launch of its 2025 model cars.

As one of the first owners of a ZEEKR 007, Xiao Tong remains relatively calm, recognizing the reality that automakers must solidify their position in the fiercely competitive new energy vehicle market. This is especially crucial for ZEEKR, which has set ambitious annual sales targets (230,000 units). Ensuring product competitiveness and sales performance through any means is the top priority.

On the evening of August 13, Xiao Tong received an official invitation from ZEEKR to watch the debut of the two new cars on an online live broadcast platform. While it might be disconcerting for older car owners, switching perspectives to that of a "ZEEKR brand supporter" makes it hard not to applaud these two new models.

In brief, considering their prices, both the 2025 ZEEKR 001 and ZEEKR 007 offer impressive value. The new colors and upgraded configurations further enhance their competitiveness, making them excellent choices for consumers who are still on the fence. In the 200,000-300,000 yuan price range in the second half of 2024, competition among sedans has eased significantly. Against "old rivals" like the Tesla Model 3 and Xiaomi SU7, ZEEKR's two new models offer certain configuration and price advantages, promising positive sales feedback.

In the long run, ZEEKR should pay attention to the public opinion surrounding this new car launch. Given the "stab in the back" situation, how to appease older car owners is a question that ZEEKR and other emerging brands must seriously consider.

The 25 new ZEEKR models make older car owners "envious"

An Conghui summarized that tonight's launch event mainly brought three upgrades: intelligent drive, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent driving. Regarding the latter two upgrades, everyone likely guesses they are related to "AI." Let's start with the ZEEKR 007, which has been on the market for just eight months. It will be the first to feature the second-generation Golden Brick battery, primarily improving the charge and discharge rates, with a maximum charging rate of 5.5C.

The first-generation Golden Brick battery was initially touted for its charging rate comparable to ternary lithium batteries. The second-generation Golden Brick battery, primarily made of lithium iron phosphate, now surpasses mainstream ternary lithium batteries in charging rate. The stronger output voltage directly translates to performance improvements. The 2025 AWD version of the ZEEKR 007 achieves a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 3.4 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than the current model, while the RWD version also achieves a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 5.0 seconds, faster than the current model.

When Xiao Tong thought that as an owner of an older model, he could only envy the new ones, ZEEKR brought good news: through OTA upgrades, the new ZEEKR 007 could also receive performance improvements. Although the charging speed will undoubtedly be slower than the new model, it's still a small consolation.

In terms of the intelligent cockpit, the most significant change comes from the implementation of ZEEKR's self-developed KR large model. Moreover, the integration of this large model is not limited to the voice assistant; the entire cockpit now possesses self-learning and predictive capabilities, leading to more new functions.

Xiao Tong believes that the most significant change in the upgraded Zeekr AI OS lies in its "proactive capabilities." With various sensors, the entire cockpit (including AI EVA) can more proactively provide services to consumers. During the launch event, the company also introduced several typical examples. For instance, when the system detects that the driver is becoming fatigued, it will automatically search for the nearest service area and add it to the navigation route, all without any intervention from the driver.

Apart from proactive capabilities, the AI large model also enhances the vehicle's underlying capabilities, including improved environmental perception. When starting, the system can anticipate obstacles, and when sandwiched between two large trucks on a highway, it can quickly perceive the situation and find solutions. These are the first abilities of the Zeekr AI OS.

Improvements in intelligent driving are not surprising, with industry buzzwords like "end-to-end" making an appearance. More notably, city driving without high-definition maps is also promised to be officially rolled out within the year. Additionally, ZEEKR mentions the hot term "parking spot to parking spot" for intelligent driving, but for ZEEKR, achieving this in one step is unrealistic. Chen Qi, head of ZEEKR's intelligent driving, stated that this is the ultimate goal of HaoHan Intelligent Driving 2.0, which they plan to achieve through a "three-step" approach.

The first step is to introduce the "Commuting Mode," which can memorize up to 20 routes with a maximum single-trip distance of 100 kilometers. Based on prior information, ZEEKR will initially realize scenario-based intelligent driving in urban areas, meeting daily commuting needs.

The second step involves ZEEKR's plan to roll out NZP (Navigated Zone Pilot) intelligent driving capabilities in urban areas by the end of 2024. With the support of the end-to-end large model, these capabilities will not require prior information and can be activated as long as navigation is available.

The third step is more distant. ZEEKR aims to introduce the NZP+ function in the second half of 2025, achieving the so-called "parking spot to parking spot" intelligent driving capability by then.

In terms of parking, the upgraded intelligent driving system will enhance remote parking capabilities. In the future, functions like "fingertip parking" will be available on mobile apps, somewhat competing with leading intelligent driving automakers like AITO and Xpeng.

Another point worth mentioning is the improved AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) capability on the 2025 ZEEKR 007. Primarily, its operating range has been expanded, with the AEB now activating at speeds up to 120 km/h for stationary obstacles and 150 km/h for moving objects.

ZEEKR introduced that the "HaoHan Intelligent Driving 2.0" featured on the 25 ZEEKR 007 incorporates two self-developed end-to-end large models, which are crucial for enhancing experiences in scenarios like AEB, intelligent driving, and parking. However, as Xiao Tong reiterates, consumers prioritize results over processes. For the 25 ZEEKR 007 to impress consumers with its intelligent driving capabilities, it's essential to "deliver the goods" soon.

Apart from these experiential upgrades, the primary changes in the 25 ZEEKR 007 include an exclusive new color option. Unfortunately for older car owners, all models except the AWD Performance Edition now come standard with light screens, which were previously optional extras costing 8,000 yuan on older models.

Briefly speaking, the 2025 ZEEKR 007 generally offers price reductions of over 20,000 yuan compared to the 2024 models, regardless of configuration upgrades. The starting price of the RWD Intelligent Driving Edition has dropped to 209,000 yuan (from 229,000 yuan previously), while the most expensive model remains the AWD Performance Edition at 299,000 yuan.

Considering the battery upgrades, standard light screens, LiDAR, and other features, the comprehensive improvements in the 25 ZEEKR 007 are indeed noticeable. However, honestly, it's difficult to create a significant gap between the new and older models in terms of usage, which might offer some consolation to older car owners. Overall, the 25 ZEEKR 007 still offers outstanding value for money, and we eagerly await its impact on ZEEKR's sales performance after its launch.

As for the 2025 ZEEKR 001, there's only one major upgrade: the 25 ZEEKR 001 will feature the same "HaoHan Intelligent Driving 2.0" as the ZEEKR 007, and models adopting this solution will also come standard with LiDAR, while prices remain unchanged.

Notably, the "entry-level" model speculated by netizens when the 24 ZEEKR 001 was launched in the first half of the year made its debut tonight. The RWD + 95kWh Shenxing battery + ME Intelligent Driving (Mobileye solution) is priced at 259,000 yuan.

Given the unchanged price and the potential for the self-developed HaoHan Intelligent Driving 2.0 to be rolled out to 2024 models via OTA, Xiao Tong believes that the arrival of the 25 ZEEKR 001 should have a less significant impact on older car owners. Setting aside the "older car owner sentiment," both the 25 ZEEKR 001 and 007 can be considered as having "further enhanced their appeal." After addressing some pain points raised by netizens, the products' shortcomings, excluding factors like "range attainment rate" that cannot be resolved without a generation change, have been largely eliminated.

After catching up with the intelligent trend, have ZEEKR's obstacles been cleared?

Let's step back from the products and take a broader look at the "ZEEKR Evolution Day." The core lies in three related upgrades focused on "intelligence." While the iterative battery upgrades are standard practice, the enhancements to the intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving signal ZEEKR's determination not to lag behind in intelligence.

As an older ZEEKR car owner, Xiao Tong acknowledges that the series of intelligent upgrades introduced at the event are indeed attractive and offer an exciting vision. Xiao Tong knows that apart from the battery, which cannot be upgraded, other software capabilities can be brought to his older ZEEKR 007 via OTA. Overall, Xiao Tong has a positive outlook on ZEEKR's intelligent future.

However, upon reflection, the "delivery timeline" remains the biggest concern, especially as "parking spot to parking spot" intelligent driving is not expected until the second half of 2025, which is somewhat worrying. To be frank, Xiao Tong's decision to purchase a ZEEKR 007 was partly influenced by the promises made at the time, including the delivery of urban intelligent driving in the second half of 2024. However, the reality is that Xiao Tong's own RWD Intelligent Driving Edition ZEEKR 007 is still not significantly related to "urban intelligent driving."

Therefore, while we see ZEEKR's determination and courage in its intelligent capabilities, we also observe its shortcomings in concrete implementation. It's worth noting that leading intelligent driving automakers like AITO and Xpeng have already entered a new phase, with ADS 3.0 testing "parking spot to parking spot" intelligent driving, and Xpeng's XNGP targeting the fourth quarter for testing. Regardless, their progress is much faster than ZEEKR's.

Xiaotong can only understand this way, that "Intelligent Driving" cannot yet become Zeekr's competitive advantage at this stage, and for car owners, they can only comfort themselves with the saying "it's better to have it than not to have it."

Finally, returning to the issue of pricing, it is undeniable that the Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 007 models from 2025 are both highly competitive, but the topic that has been discussed repeatedly is whether we can still have confidence in the manufacturer's pricing strategy? At the same time, the compensation for existing Zeekr car owners that Xiaotong had previously anticipated was not mentioned, causing some distress among members of car enthusiast groups where Xiaotong is a part of.

In summary, while attracting new customers is important, the car owners who have already supported Zeekr cannot be overlooked. The launch of new products and price adjustments must be kept within an appropriate range. Xiaotong firmly believes that there is a way to satisfy both "attracting new car owners" and "appeasing existing car owners," it just requires more thought and effort on the part of the manufacturer.

Source: Leitech