Order books closed! Zeekr 001 sold out within 2 months since launch

Zeekr, Geely’s new premium electric vehicle (EV) brand, announced that they have sold out all deliverable cars in 2021. As of 15-June, the company has stopped receiving orders for the Zeekr 001 for the 2021 model year while deliveries are estimated to start in October 2021.

When the company launched the Zeekr 001 back in April, it expected to sell 10,000 units in its first year of business. They also expected sales to only pick up around the third quarter of the year.

Little did the brand expect to receive so much demand that all 2021 allocations have been snapped up within 2 months of their launch. If you're wondering why Zeekr is not producing more cars instead of closing bookings, we speculate the global chip shortage may have something to do with it.

Chinese news portal Sohu reports that they believe the Zeekr 001 sold out during its pre-order exercise.

Also read: Zeekr 001 revealed: it was the Lynk and Co Zero Concept all along

Although Zeekr has stopped receiving booking deposits, they are giving potential buyers who registered their interest before 31-July the priority when the next batch of 001 is ready for delivery.

As the first batch of 001 deliveries is expected to last until January 2022, buyers who registered before 31-July will be the priority when the second batch of cars are ready to be shipped out in February 2022.

Order books for the Zeekr 001 will only reopen in August 2021.

Parent company, Geely, launched Zeekr back in April as a premium brand aimed specifically at Tesla and Chinese peer Nio.

Executives said that Zeekr would use a direct sales model to manage pricing and inventory. The brand also has plans to open more than 100 stores this year.

Also read: Geely's premium EV, the Zeekr 001 debuts in China, around RM177k

The Zeekr 001 is built on Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform and was teased ahead of its launch as the Lynk & Co Zero Concept.

It offers 2 battery options (86 kWh and 100 kWh) with a claimed electric range of 700 km. The electric motor produces 543 PS and 700 Nm allowing the EV to complete the century sprint in 3.8 seconds.

Also read: Geely Chairman Li Shufu steps down, to be Zeekr’s boss

In China, the 001 has an asking price of around RMB 281,000 (RM 177k) which is more expensive than a Tesla Model 3’s base model which starts at RMB 249,900 (around RM 158k).