Zeekr has CKD native meeting plans for its EVs, leveraging on mother or father Geely’s funding in Malaysia

On the current check drive occasion for Malaysian media and homeowners in Harbin, China, Zeekr Malaysia’s GM Eddy Lu revealed that the model’s 9X flagship SUV shall be coming to Malaysiawith the 007 GT a.ok.a. 7GT taking pictures brake EV into consideration for our market. He additionally mentioned that native meeting is in Zeekr’s plans.

Lu mentioned that Zeekr, as a part of the Geely Group, will leverage on the group’s investments in Malaysia. “CKD is within the plans,” he mentioned with out elaborating, maybe attributable to issues being at an early stage. This confirms what we heard from Proton final yr about Zeekr vehicles being regionally assembled on the Automotive Hello-Tech Valley (AHTV) in Tanjong Malim, which is anchored by Proton.

Alex Bao, head of Zeekr Southeast Asia, first broached the CKD topic in Might 2025. “Don’t neglect we’re underneath a giant group, which has plenty of services and manufacturing energy right here. So, we’ve been discussing this situation however it’s going to take a while,” he mentioned then. When requested if it will likely be at Proton’s new EV plant, he mentioned “very doable, very doable. We’re underneath the identical mom!”

In July 2023, prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim revealed that Geely will make investments US$10 billion (RM39.5 billion) to show Tanjong Malim into the area’s largest auto metropolis. In October that very same yr, Geely and DRB-Hicom signed a grasp collaboration settlement for the AHTV undertaking.

Now that the tax-free window for CBU imported EVs has closed, native meeting turns into very important if a model needs to promote EVs in significant numbers – it’s now not a free for all because of a brand new regulation imposing a RM250k minimal worth for CBU EVs.

Initially, it was understood that the brand new ground worth can be for manufacturers which have but to arrange store in Malaysiabut it surely has since been expanded to embody new fashions from current manufacturers. The Malaysian Automotive Affiliation (MAA) is attempting to make clear this with Malaysia’s funding, commerce and trade ministry (MITI).

We’d not see the brand new regulation’s full impact but because of the supply of 2025 inventory, however as issues stand, CBU EV costs will ultimately go up, and the RRP distinction between the imports and CKD regionally assembled EVs will widen – it will likely be fairly much like what we’ve seen all these years with ICE vehicles. See Audi versus BMW and Mercedes-Benz, for example.

Luckily for Zeekr, the premium model is ‘underneath the identical mom’ as Proton, and Geely is invested in AHTV and Malaysia.

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