The Zeekr 001 FR starts at RMB 769,000, lower than Zeekr's previous hint of over RMB 1 million, and the model is limited to 99 units per month.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
Zeekr has officially launched the Zeekr 001 FR (Future Road) electric supercar, a move that the Geely Holding Group's premium electric vehicle (EV) subsidiary seems to be making to showcase its technological prowess rather than seeking high deliveries.
Zeekr announced the official start of sales of the Zeekr 001 FR at an October 27 launch event in Beijing, with a starting price of RMB 769,000 yuan ($105,100).
The price is lower than expected, as Zeekr has said several times before that the high-performance supercar based on its first production vehicle, the Zeekr 001 shooting brake, would be priced at more than RMB 1 million.
The Zeekr 001 FR is limited to 99 units per month, with deliveries in China set to begin this weekend. Global markets will receive a limited number of the model in due course, the company said.
Zeekr unveiled the Zeekr 001 FR at a technical event on September 1, when it said the model could sprint from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 2.07 seconds, making it the fastest-accelerating mass-produced all-electric vehicle.
The Zeekr 001 FR is powered by quad motors that can deliver up to 1,265 horsepower, the company said on September 1.
While the previously announced performance was already astonishing, Zeekr updated those key specs today to deliver even more powerful performance.
Zeekr engineers, supported by chief performance advisor and F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen, have broken a number of promises made last month, and the Zeekr 001 FR is now even more powerful, faster, and smarter than initially promised, the company said.
Zeekr managed to increase the brake horsepower of the Zeekr 001 FR from the 1,265 hp promised to 1,300 hp and allows the car to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.02 seconds with a rolling start, 0.05 seconds shorter than the previously achieved 2.07 seconds.
The EV maker's hardware and infotainment engineers launched the Räikkönen mode, through which the car offers a full range of features for drivers who want to push the car to its limits.
The Zeekr 001 FR is the first Zeekr model to feature an upgraded 800 V electrical system with four silicon carbide motors developed in-house.
The model is equipped with torque vectoring technology that delivers maximum power to each wheel and allows for tank turns.
Powering the Zeekr 001 FR is a 100 kWh Qilin battery from Chinese battery giant CATL, which is already in use elsewhere in the Zeekr portfolio.
Supported by 800 V technology, the Zeekr 001 FR is capable of faster charging, going from 10 percent to 80 percent in just 15 minutes.
The Zeekr 001 FR is one of the first production vehicles to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8295 chip in the cockpit, which offers a 2.2x increase in computing power and a 2.7x increase in graphics and video processing power over the Snapdragon 8155 currently used in mainstream high-end EVs.
Zeekr offers the Zeekr 001 FR with and without LiDAR, with the version without LiDAR using what the company calls the world's largest carbon fiber roof.
The Zeekr 001 FR's strong performance and limited availability suggests that the model is more about showing off technical muscle and will have a limited contribution to deliveries.
Zeekr is aiming to double its deliveries this year from last year to around 140,000 units, and the company's management said in a group interview with the media following the launch of the Zeekr 001 FR that they will still be looking to hit that target.
In the January-September period, Zeekr delivered 79,028 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 100.2 percent.
The company will start delivering vehicles in Europe during the year and plans to launch three models for a wider market next year, setting the stage for annual sales of 650,000 vehicles by 2025.
Apart from the Zeekr 001 FR, Zeekr currently has three other models on sale -- the regular Zeekr 001, the Zeekr 009 MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle), and the Zeekr X city SUV.
These three models are priced to target the mainstream mid-to-high end of the market, but they all come in relatively niche forms for the Chinese market.
($1 = RMB 7.3177)
