- The updated Zeekr 007 GT, set to launch in the second quarter, will see a price increase amid rising chip and battery costs, according to a local media report.
- Upgrades to Nvidia's Thor-U chips and a 900-volt architecture have led to higher costs for DDR5 memory and other components.
Zeekr's upcoming facelifted 007 GT is expected to see an increase in its official guide price, driven primarily by ongoing chip shortages and rising core component costs.
The upgraded EV model, officially launching in the second quarter of this year, is expected to see a price hike of 5,000 yuan ($720) to 8,000 yuan over the current version, local auto media Yiche reported on Monday.
The currently available Zeekr 007 is built on an 800-volt high-voltage architecture, with a starting price range of 209,900 yuan to 299,900 yuan.
Zeekr said in January that it would launch the updated versions of the Zeekr 007 and 007 GT in the second quarter, featuring variants equipped with the Nvidia Drive Thor-U assisted driving chip and a 900-volt high-voltage architecture.
The latest pricing adjustment signal reflects a broader and sustained upward trend in the prices of upstream raw materials and core electronic components across the EV supply chain.
Automotive memory chip prices have climbed noticeably since the second half of 2025, with DDR5 memory in automotive-grade DRAM seeing significant increases, largely due to surging demand from AI data centers for these components.
The Thor assisted driving chip equipped in the updated Zeekr 007 GT uses higher-end and capacity-constrained DDR5X memory, facing greater cost pressures, the Yiche report said.
Meanwhile, the recent rise in lithium prices has also elevated overall manufacturing costs for automakers regarding power battery packs, the report noted.
Zeekr's potential pricing move is not an isolated case in an industry facing supply chain constraints, as Chery's Exeed ET5 recently raised its official guide price.
Price adjustments help secure long-term R&D investment for automakers and maintain the stability of product quality and user services, Yiche cited industry insiders as saying.
As raw material prices rise and chip shortages persist, the Chinese EV industry may soon witness a widespread wave of official guide price hikes, according to the report.
Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li warned of such potential cost pressures in January this year, stating at the time that the biggest cost pressure was memory chips.
Automakers must now compete with rapidly growing AI players and large global computing centers for limited resources in memory chip procurement, Li said on January 6.
($1 = 6.9173 yuan)
