On February 14, 2025, Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holdings Co., Ltd. and Geely Automobile Holdings Co., Ltd. officially announced the completion of the strategic integration of Lynk & Co., with 51% of Lynk & Co.'s equity belonging to Zeekr and the remaining 49% held by Geely. Zeekr Technology Group was thus established.
This 10 billion yuan equity transaction (with a total transaction price of 9.367 billion yuan) which took only three months was a key step in optimizing Geely Holding's internal resources and also the largest OEM merger case in the global automotive industry in the past five years.
Resource Reconstruction under Stock Competition
The core motivation for this merger is to solve the problems of overlapping market positioning and duplicate R&D resources between Zeekr and Lynk & Co. Before the merger, the two brands had overlapping product lines in the mid-to-high-end market. For example, some Lynk & Co models overlapped with Zeekr's price range, leading to internal competition and waste of resources.
Through equity integration, Zeekr Technology Group has clearly divided its brand positioning: Zeekr focuses on the luxury technology market above RMB 300,000, focusing on pure electric and super electric hybrid technologies; Lynk & Co targets the high-end trend market above RMB 200,000, focusing on pure electric small cars and EMP hybrid medium and large cars. This strategy of "Zeekr moving upward, Lynk & Co moving broad" not only avoids internal friction, but also covers a wider range of consumer groups.
The integration at the business level focuses on the coordination of R&D, manufacturing and supply chain. Zeekr Technology Group will unify the management of the originally scattered R&D functions, and through the platform-based sharing of vehicle architecture, electronic and electrical architecture and intelligent driving technology, it is expected that the R&D efficiency will be increased by more than 15%; on the manufacturing side, through the "big manufacturing + big quality" integrated management system, the resources of six major factories will be integrated to optimize the production layout and procurement process, with the goal of reducing material costs by 5%-8% and saving management costs by 10%-20%. In addition, AI-driven intelligent management is embedded in organizational operations, aiming to improve overall efficiency by more than 20% and promote the transformation of enterprises to a data-driven intelligent model.
For Geely, the merger of Zeekr and Lynk & Co is not only a reallocation of internal resources, but also a key layout for its impact on the global high-end new energy market.
An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr Technology Group, said that the goal of Zeekr Technology Group is to become the BBA of the new energy era, achieve annual sales of one million vehicles within two years, and change the global luxury car market. He has repeatedly made it clear that the new group will adhere to dual-brand operations: Zeekr will focus on the high-end market with its luxury technology label and strengthen its pure electric technology barriers; Lynk & Co will expand into the mainstream market with its trendy sports genes and accelerate globalization with the help of Volvo's overseas channels.
Overseas markets are considered one of the strategic priorities. After the merger, Zeekr and Lynk & Co will share sales networks and service resources, such as using Volvo's dealer system in Europe, and plan to build more than 200 stores overseas by 2025. This strategy of borrowing a boat to go overseas can not only reduce channel construction costs, but also rely on Volvo's high-end service reputation to enhance brand premium.
The merger of Zeekr and Lynk & Co reflects the underlying logic of China's new energy vehicle market entering the stage of stock competition. As the penetration rate of new energy vehicles exceeds 50% in 2024, the competition among leading automakers will shift from incremental grabbing to efficiency game. Geely has provided the industry with a reference path of "multi-brand contraction and refined operation" by integrating its brands, reducing internal friction and amplifying scale effects.
Analysts at AlixPartners pointed out that such integration will help automakers achieve cost savings in R&D and manufacturing, while maintaining market coverage through brand differentiation.
From planning to implementation, challenges still exist
Although the synergies from the merger are significant, challenges remain.
How to balance brand independence (such as channel independence) and the scale of backend resource integration still requires long-term adjustment. For example, Zeekr mainly adopts the direct sales model in first- and second-tier cities, while in third-, fourth- and fifth-tier markets, it uses Lynk & Co's investor resources to expand channels, but the brand showrooms still need to remain independent to avoid consumer confusion.
The market risks brought by the product line adjustment cannot be ignored. Liu Xiangyang, CEO of Lynk & Co, said frankly: "Before the merger, there were problems of product overlap and repeated investment in R&D resources. After the integration, scientific planning is needed to clarify the division of labor." Although in the planning, Zeekr focuses on the market above 300,000 yuan, Lynk & Co focuses on the market above 200,000 yuan, and the small car market is covered by Lynk & Co's pure electric models. However, in actual operation, facing the three-dimensional and all-round involution market, whether they can strictly adhere to their respective price areas remains to be seen.
In terms of R&D functions, An Conghui revealed that the R&D functions originally supported by Geely Research Institute will be undertaken by the integrated Zeekr Technology Group. Among them, Lynk & Co's product end has changed from the original project system to a two-product line decision-making system. The decision-making chain that was originally reported to Geely Auto was assigned to An Conghui's management. In addition, An Conghui uniformly manages the R&D capability center, and the hard and soft capabilities are managed by a unified team. Chen Qi and Jiang Jun lead the two businesses of intelligent driving and intelligent cabin respectively. The drastic decision-making chain switch requires time to run-in, which may cause short-term efficiency losses.
In addition, according to the plan, Lynk & Co needs to fully connect to Zeekr's vast intelligent driving system, but the differences in hardware adaptation and software iteration rhythm among different brands and models may delay the implementation of the technology.
In the hottest field of intelligent driving, some car companies have clearly announced that they will implement "L3 autonomous driving" this year, and Zeekr is one of them. However, An Conghui admitted: "L3 regulations lag behind technological development. We choose to conquer products first and wait for policy follow-up." However, this strategy may face the risk that mass-produced models cannot obtain regulatory certification in time, and there is still the possibility of product delays in the end.
What An Conghui called the "battle of technological innovation, war of product value, and battle of global breakthrough" is both a path to break the impasse and a list of challenges.
