ZEEKR is developing a new mass market SUV to challenge the Tesla Model Y
According to a local media outlet in China, Geely-owned EV brand ZEEKR is quickly following up with an encore to its first mass-market sedan which debuted last week. According to the report, ZEEKR already has a new mass-market SUV in development, which could arrive as early as next year and offer some competition to Tesla’s Model Y – currently the world’s best selling EV.
ZEEKR is the luxury EV sub-brand of Chinese automotive powerhouse Geely that continues to expand at an impressive rate in China, Europe, and soon, the Middle East. Up until last week, ZEEKR was touting a lineup of three EVs developed in a mere two years.
That began with its flagship 001 shooting brake, which recently evolved into a new quad-motor FR version, as well as the 009 multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), and its first SUV – called the ZEEKR X. Earlier this month however, ZEEKR began teasing the 007 – its first-ever sedan and only EV designed for mass-market appeal to date.
That BEV made its official public debut last week at the Guangzhou Auto Show, where we learned it will start at an MSRP of RMB 229,900 ($31,900) and begin deliveries in China this January.
In true ZEEKR fashion, that’s not all. The automaker is already working on a new SUV to soon join the 007 in the global market and just may be taking some cues from Tesla as its next challenger.
A new ZEEKR SUV is already in the works
According to a WeChat post from the AutoPix account out of China, ZEEKR recently held an internal meeting that involved two topics. The first was mass production of the 007 sedan, the second – a new SUV codenamed “CX1E,” expected to begin production by the end of 2024.
The 007 is part of ZEEKR’s current “C” product line of EVs, so the codename for the new SUV makes sense, as we previously reported the codename of the automaker’s first SUV was the “BX1E” before we learned it would in fact be called the ZEEKR X.
While AutoPix was originally the only outlet reporting news of a potential C line SUV, but Electrek was able to confirm with sources close to the matter, that ZEEKR in fact developing an SUV model that is designed similarly to 007 sedan. The design strategy will be similar to how the Tesla Model Y shares a majority of its design DNA with the Model 3. While those sources who requested to remain anonymous confirmed plans for a second SUV, we were told the exact timeframe of its arrival will be decided at a later date.
This move makes a lot of sense as ZEEKR transcends the niche markets of shooting brakes and MPVs and looks to garner a larger piece of the global market with more universally appealing EVs. The 007 is the first step in that process, so a new SUV based upon that design but bigger, could fare well from both a production efficiency and customer variety standpoint. It’s certainly working for Tesla with the Model 3 and Model Y.
For now, we will set our sights on the production launch of the 007 sedan which will without a doubt be sold in all of ZEEKR’s current markets and probably more in the future. Given our recent confirmations, we are sure to learn more about ZEEKR’s new SUV plans in 2024 and are looking forward to it.
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GreenPower Motor Company says it’s received three orders for 11 of its BEAST electric Type D school buses for western state school districts in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
GreenPower hasn’t made the sort of headline-grabbing promises or big-money commitments that companies like Nikola and Lion Electric have, but while those companies are floundering GPM seems to be plugging away, taking orders where it can and actually delivering buses to schools. Late last year, the company scored 11 more orders for its flagship BEAST electric school bus.
As far as these latest orders go, the breakdown is:
- seven to Los Banos Unified School District in Los Banos, California
- two for the Hood River County School District in Hood River, Oregon
- two for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Casa Grande, Arizona
Those two BEAST electric school buses for Arizona will join another 90-passenger BEAST that was delivered to Phoenix Elementary School District #1, which operates 15 schools in the center of Phoenix, late last year.
“As school districts continue to make the change from NOx emitting diesel school buses to a cleaner, healthier means of transporting students, school district transportation departments are pursuing the gold standard of the industry – the GreenPower all-electric, purpose-built (BEAST) school buses,” said Paul Start, GreenPower’s Vice President of Sales, School Bus Group. “(The) GreenPower school bus order pipeline and production schedule are both at record levels with sales projections for (2025) set to eclipse the 2024 calendar year.”
GreenPower moved into an 80,000-square-foot production facility in South Charleston, West Virigina in August 2022, and delivered its first buses to that state the following year.
Electrek’s Take
Since the first horseless carriage companies started operating 100 years ago (give or take), at least 1,900 different companies have been formed in the US, producing over 3,000 brands of American automobiles. By the mid 1980s, that had distilled down to “the big 3.”
All of which is to say: don’t let the recent round of bankruptcies fool you – startups in the car and truck industry is business as usual, but some of these companies will stick around. If you’re wondering which ones, look to the ones that are making units, not promises.
SOURCE | IMAGES: GreenPower Motors.
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While some recent high-profile bankruptcies have cast doubt on the EV startup space recently, medium-duty electric truck maker Harbinger got a shot of credibility this week with a massive $100 million Series B funding round co-led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fledgling EV brands like Lion Electric and Canoo, but box van builder Harbinger is bucking the trend, fueling its latest funding round with an order book of 4,690 vehicles that’s valued at nearly $500 million. Some of the company’s more notable customers including Bimbo Bakeries (which owns brands like Sara Lee, Thomas’, and Entenmann’s) and THOR Industries (Airstream, Jayco, Thor), which is also one of the investors in the Series B.
Other prominent investors include Tiger Global, the Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, and ArcTern Ventures.
As for what makes Harbinger such an attractive investment prospect, Dipender Saluja, Managing Partner of Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund explains that, “Harbinger has demonstrated a remarkable ability to reach significant milestones far quicker than other EV companies … the market has been impressed by their ability to develop large portions of the vehicle in-house to drive down unit costs, while remaining capital efficient.”
The company plans to use the funds to ramp up to higher-volume production capacity and deliver on existing orders, as well as build-out of the company’s sales, customer support, and service operations.
“Harbinger is entering a rapid growth phase where we are focused on scaling production of our customer-ready platform,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO. “These funds catalyze significant revenue generation. We’ve developed a vehicle for a segment that is ripe for electrification, and there is a strong product/market fit that will help fuel our upward trajectory through 2025 and beyond.”
The company has raised $200 million since its inception in 2021.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Harbinger.
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There is no state more associated with cars and car culture than Michigan – and the state that’s home to the Motor City has just taken a huge step into the future with the deployment of its first-ever all electric police vehicle.
The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E patrol vehicle is assigned to the Michigan State Police State Security Operations Section, and will be to be used by armed, uniformed members of the MSP specializing in general law enforcement and security services at state-owned facilities in the Lansing, MI area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” says Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds, coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
The MSP’s Precision Driving Unit is nationally renowned for its annual Police Vehicle Evaluation, which our own Scooter Doll participated in last year, driving the then-new Chevy Blazer EV Police Pursuit Vehicles in a game of “cops and robbers.”
In those tests, the EVs have impressed – but the MSP has been hesitant to commit to a BEV until now. “We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the Precision Driving Unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”
Michigan joins other states like Wisconsin and California in deploying electric patrol cars and saving big money on fuel and maintenance, with many more out there and many more to come.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Michigan State Police.
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