Home Industry Electric and Concept Cars Zeekr experiences 35% increase...
Electric and Concept Cars
Business Fortune
13 May, 2024
The electric vehicle manufacturer Zeekr had a strong debut in the market on Friday, with its shares increasing by over 35% from its initial public offering price.
Zeekr is the first significant Chinese firm to launch in the U.S. market since 2021.
The company's successful U.S. debut helped it differentiate itself from other Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers vying for a larger portion of the European market. Ironically, U.S. President Joe Biden's government plans to raise tariffs on Chinese car imports, aligning with the market's initial trading day.
Conghui An, the President and CEO of Geely Holding Group, Zeekr's parent company, mentioned that the New York capital markets are great for new energy vehicles. Zeekr was already a global brand, and its decision to list in New York only served to highlight that fact. The luxury brand of Chinese automaker Geely is Zeekr. Geely also owns Lotus of the UK and Volvo Cars of Sweden. Founded in 2021, it aims to benefit from the increasing demand for luxury vehicles in China. As of its IPO filing, the company has already delivered approximately 200,000 automobiles, with most of them being in China.
Competition from Tesla in China has decreased the earnings of local electric vehicle manufacturers. As a result, they are now thinking about expanding into other markets. Zeekr's value decreased to $6.8 billion after its launch, which is almost half of the $13 billion it had raised in the previous year. Chinese automakers Great Wall Motor, SAIC, and BYD aim to compete with European automakers in their market by introducing electric vehicle models. Chinese electric vehicle sales in Europe have skyrocketed lately.
Zeekr's CEO likened Geely to the top car manufacturer in Europe, expressing the ambition to transform the company into the Volkswagen Group of the electric vehicle era. He believes that Zeekr's objective at Geely is to cater to the high-end electric vehicle market. In contrast to its $21 IPO price, Zeekr's shares opened at $26 and reached as high as $29.36 during trading. With a 34.6% gain, the stock finished at $28.26.