ZEEKR Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd (ZK) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for Zeekr Group's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Mr. Jing Yuan, the CFO of Zeekr Group. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good day, everyone. Welcome to Zeekr Group's first quarter 2025 earning conference call. Before we continue, please be reminded that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1,995.

Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the view expressed today. Further information regarding risks and uncertainties is included in certain company filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company does not take any obligation to update any forward-looking statement except as required under the law.

So join us today from Zeekr Senior Management. I'm Mr. Cong Hui An, co-founder and CEO, and myself, Xinyuan, the group CFO. Our CEO will make his remark in Chinese, followed by an English translation taking the call to me for a review of our financials, and I will talk about our financials in English.

With that, I will now turn the call over to our CEO and

(spoken in foreign language)

(interpreted) Hello, everyone. Thank you all for joining Zeekr Groups of first quarter 2025 earnings call. First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our users, employees, and partners. Over the past four years, your unwavering support and the long term trust have made it possible for us to achieve what once seemed impossible.

With the Zeekr 001, we transformed the shooting break from each segment into a mainstream option for our customers. Assuring in a new era for this category in China.

Meanwhile, the Zeekr 009 took the luxury segment by storm. Becoming the top selling model in the over 400,000 luxury MPV category and pioneering a new market for premium pure electric MPVs. Thanks to your belief in us, Zeekr has reached nearly 500,000 users worldwide, carving out a third path in the new era of intelligent electric mobility.

(spoken in foreign language)

As of the end of the first quarter following the strategic integration of Zeekr and the Lincoln co brands, Zeekr Group's a global user base passed 1.9 million and is rapidly approaching the 2 million mark.

Looking ahead, we will continue to redefine luxuries through exceptional service and elevate the premium automotive segment with cutting edge technologies. And the industry's transformation, we remain firmly committed to innovation as we expand our presence in the global premium market.

(spoken in foreign language)

Since February, after we integrate the both the Lincoln code brand and the Zeekr brand into Zeekr Group has driven progress through a series of strategic initiatives. Including joint product R&D upgrades to our manufacturing systems, enhance the user engagement, and a stronger coordination across domestic and international channels.

These efforts have accelerated the platform-based technology sharing and unlocked economies of scale, generating a notable improvement in profitability. From January to March, Zeekr Group delivered 114,000 vehicles, marking a 21% year-over-year increase and solidifying our position among the leaders in China's premium EV segment.

Zeekr groups of first quarter revenue reached the RMB22 billion with vehicle revenue up to RMB19.1 billion. Vehicles' gross margin reached an impressive 16.5%. With the Zeekr brands margin rising to 21.2%. Next, let me outline our three key areas of focus. For driving sustained growth, products, technology, and the channel expansion.

(spoken in foreign language)

Let's begin with our product lineup. In line with our brand strategies, that is elevating the Zeekr brand in the premium segment and expanding the link and co brands market reach. We have further enriched our product portfolio and enhanced the overall competitiveness. As high and the premium and the hybrid vehicle emerge as a key growth engines in China's auto market. We are actively adapting to the evolving landscape. The Zeekr brand continues to make both strides in the premium space.

In April 15, we launched the Zeekr 7 GT, a high-tech shooting brake to pay further strengthening the Zeekr shooting brick family.

We produced over 10,000 Zeekr 7 GTs for delivery in the models the first month. The Zeekr 009 grant collectors edition hosted by the high profile endorsement has quickly become a sought after choice among top-tier buyers.

Furthermore, the Zeekr X positioned as the new energy era, the most luxurious flagship SUV, yes was the first super electric hybrid model built on a full stack 900 volt high voltage architecture.

The entire lineup delivers a 0 to 100 KPH acceleration in just three seconds. It's groundbreaking super electric hybrid technology which we began developing three years ago, seamlessly combines the advantages of a pure electric plugin hybrid and the range extender systems.

This enables a driving experience comparable to that of a pure EV without any worry of a range of anxiety. By strategically tapping into both luxury and the hybrid segment, the Zeekr 9X captured widespread attention from global media outlets, industry peers, and consumers at its Shanghai Auto shows debut.

Meanwhile, the Lincoln Code brand continued to solidify its presence in the premium segments while broadening both the power train lineup and the customer base.

Following the strategic integration, we launched the Lincol code 900 in April, a smart six-seater flagship SUV powered by EMP hybrid technology. The delivery volume of the Lincoln Code 900. Has surpassed the data of the models with highly publicized the preorders in the market.

This model has secured far over 30,000 pre-orders to date, and the other data shows strong demand for the high spec 2.0 turbo ultra model. 80% of our customers choose that variant, and particularly among the users upgrading or replacing their existing models.

Notably, over 30% of the orders are from former Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi drivers, highlighting the Lincoln code 900 solid performance, both in terms of the sales volume, and the premium market appeal.

Looking ahead, Lincoln Co will launch its first EMP made large sedan in the second half of this year, while Zeekr Group with the roll out the Zeekr 9X and another large luxury SUV 8X in the third and fourth quarter respectively, both equipped with the cutting edge super electric hybrid technology.

This compelling lineup of a competitive, highly differentiated models promises to inject fresh momentum into our business and feel the groups of sustainable steady growth.

What do you like. Secondly, on technology, in response to the title declaration and to accelerate its implementation, we are systematically advancing the integration and the sharing of a key platforms technologies across the Zeekr and the Lincoln code brands.

Including the vehicle architecture, electrical and electronic architecture, powertrain systems, intelligent driving assistance, and the smart copy technologies. We aim to build a strong technological motor through the -efforts across both brands.

In the era of intelligent driving, Geely has unified its approach across brands and officially launched its standard intelligent driving assistant solution, that is a G pilot. Future, the Zeekr group models will feature the G pilot H7 and H9 systems. Among them, the Zeekr 9X will be equipped with the G pilot H9 system and offer the level 3 ready intelligent driving assistance capabilities. It is expected to enter the mass production and the delivery by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the newly launched the Lincoln code 900 incorporates the advanced G pilot H5 and H7 systems.

It's also the first production model to feature Nvidia driver AGX4 platform and it comes equippto with the GD advanced evasion system or GAES, a continuous automatic invasive steering technology originally buted by the Zeekr brand.

In the second half of this year, Lincoln code's upcoming EMP made to large sedan will also be equipped with Nvidia's a sword chip SOC and adopt the GPy H7 platform. So to simply put, we will find a very good synergy in the area of Ada for both the Zeekr and the Lincoln code brands.

In the smart coy, and the Lincoln Code with the share domain controllers and the electric code and electronic architecture. Each brand would maintain its distinct user experiences at application level. Zeekr vehicles would continue to use the Zeekr AIOS whilst the Lininco would use the Flying Auto.

So to simply put, the two brands would share a lot in common, but they still have a different applications.

In EV battery technology, Zeekr group's self-developed the golden battery has ushered in a new era of ultra-fast charging for lithium-ion phosphate batteries, becoming the first LSP battery to surpass all mass-produced lithium batteries in charging speed.

It is now one of the fastest charging batteries in production globally. Moving forward, the original golden battery will be unified and the shield golden battery and it will incorporate advanced in-house cell technologies developed by the GD Holding Group.

This upgraded battery platform will further enhance the growth of both the Zeekr and the Lincoln code brands in 2025 and beyond. Building on this foundation, we are pushing the boundaries of charging technologies even further.

Zeekr Group has officially launched the V4 ultrafast megawatt charger, which boasts a world leading peak single gun output of 1.3 megawatts. The first station is already being built up and running in the city of Hangzhou, delivering a total power output of over 1,400 kilowatts, sufficient to support simultaneous ultrafast charging for 3,800 volt models across the Zeekr and the Lincoln code brands. In fact, our customers are giving very positive feedback about their experiences of charging at the station, and we will soon expand this technology across the nation.

Suddenly, the global channel development. Domestically, we would continue to strengthen our poor network and expand into more lower tier markets. Zeekr would leverage linking close the channel resources to aggressively expand into lower tier markets, sharing afteral service infrastructure, improving accessibility for users, and significantly boosting the Zeekr brand's overall channel coverage.

Nationally, we are accelerating our global expansion to drive a continued the sales growth. Beyond Europe, we plan to establish a unified sales company in the global markets with a single team focused on developing international markets for the both brands. Currently, the Lincoln code 08 EMP and the Zeekr 7X are being shipped overseas.

On May 16 of May, the Zeekr 7X was the commerce deliveries in Europe. As of the end of April, we have entered over 60 major international markets with a global retail footprints of over 1,200 stores, over 150 of which are located in the overseas markets spanning Asia, Europe, Oceania, Latin America, and Africa.

And I believe that the Lincoln code 08 and the Zeekr 7X would have a very good market performance in the global market because they're in the large segments and they are, we already received a positive feedback from the customers.

In conclusion, we believe that only those who embraces can change can move forward. Only those who innovate can grow stronger, and only those who reform and innovate will ultimately exceed.

Since the first quarter, we've been implementing internal management reforms to unlock greater efficiency, enabling both innovation and the breakthroughs. Going forward, we remain committed to our clear long term approach by aligning with the trend. Of the new energy era and the focusing on the global premium markets, we will drive success and me out ongoing transformation of the global automotive industry.

With that, I will hand over the call to our CFO, Mr. Jing Yuan. Thanks everyone.

Thank you, Andy. I will now go over our key financial results for the fourth quarter of this year. Given the time constraint, I will focus on the highlights here and ask you to refer to our earnings press release and 60 announcements for further details.

We are pleased to report a robust financial performance for the fourth quarter, or four full quarter since completing the strategic integration of Zeekr and Lincoln Health. Of a strategic initiative delivered both improved profitability and sustained growth across all key metrics. We have reached strong revenue growth and record markets. Our total vehicle deliveries reached 114,0011 units in fourth quarter of 2025 for a year over year growth of 21.2%. Meanwhile, enhanced product competitiveness and stronger brand synergies drove a 16.1% year over year increase in vehicle sales revenue as well. We also achieved another record high quarterly vehicle margin through disciplined side chain management and scale advantages.

Our overall vehicle margin rose to 16.5%, up 3.4% points year over year and beating the guidance of 15% set by management at the beginning of this year.

The brand led the way with an all-time high margins of 21.2%, while Lincoln Code coast margin reached 11.4%, reflecting our ongoing focus on cost optimization and the premium product mix enhancements. Gross margin was 19.1% for the first quarter compared with 16.3% for the first quarter last year and 18% for the fourth quarter of 2024.

We have achieved improving operating efficiency and significant loss reduction. We leverage platform-based RNZ and optimize the resource allocation to improve operational efficiency while expanding our vehicle lineup.

On the expenses RMB2.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 25% year over year by the decrease of 25.6% quarter over quarter, exceeding our savings target of 20% set at the beginning of this year.

SG&A expenses would be RMB2.65 billion for the first quarter of 2025, representing a decrease of 9.2% year over year and the decrease of 35.8% quarter over quarter.

Together, higher revenue and improved spending efficiency narrowed down our net loss by 60% year over year to RMB763 million for the first quarter of 2025.

A major step towards sustainable profitability. So before we move to the Q&A session, I would like to address that in order to ensure compliance with disclosure regulations and to prevent inappropriate or misinterpreted remarks from affecting the pending privatization transaction. The company will not comment on matters related to the privatization offer we received.

A special committee comp composed of independent directors have been established to evaluate the offer, and all communication with the offer will be conducted by this committee.

The company will make announcements at appropriate time in accordance with legal disclosure requirements. For updates on privatization offer, please refer to the company's official disclosures.

So that concludes my prepared remarks. Thank you, everyone. Let's move on to (inaudible)

Operator, could you read Q&A session

Thank you.

We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)

Tina Hou, Goldman Sachs.

Management for taking my question. So I have two questions. The first one is, regarding, the first 4 months sales volume, wondering if it's in line with management expectations. And then also do we have an updated, sales volume target for 2025 for a year and what would be the main, models that's driving.

Driving us to that full year target. And then the second question is I would just like to see if management has any comments regarding the Geely Auto's provisional offering. We've also noticed that the share price of Zeekr is already above the offering price, so just wondering what kind of comments, if any, management has on it on anything that you can share.

(interpreted) So thank you so much. For your questions on the by the Goldman Sachs analyst colleague, and we acknowledge that our sales performance in April is not that satisfying and some might find some but we would say that the sales performance is actually in line with our management expectation. And we can say that we stay committed to the sales target of 320,000 vehicles of the Zeekr brands this year and 390,000 vehicles for the Lincoln Code brand this year. So we stay committed to the 710,000 vehicles of sales volume for the Zeekr group this year.

So we did not have any new product launch in the first quarter, and that has some influence on our sales sales performance in the first quarter. And also we did not change our sales business policies in the first quarter and that also placed a stress on our sales performance in the first quarter as well. But I think since April we launched the new Zeekr 007 GT as well as the Lincoln 900, we would have a positive.

Performance in in May and I believe in the rest of this year with the launch of Zeekr 9X and Zeekr 8X and Lincoln Code submit to large size sedan, this new products will contribute to the healthy positive sales performance in the remaining of this year.

And you might have learned from the media reports and that we recently made some change in the of the organization among the Zeekr groups of marketing and the sales units, and we are also actively expanding our network approach. So in addition to the Zeekr house we already have, we also introduced the Zeekr agent mode for us to quickly enter into more low tier markets. So we have been working on this for over three months, and I think we can see positive results from this move in the Q3 and Q4 this year.

To answer your second question. I also would like to say that it's not that difficult, it's a difficult question, and I am as a matter of fact, I'm not the board member of Geely Auto in Hong Kong, and I also learned the move from the public filing. So to ensure the compliance with the disclosure regulations and to prevent inappropriate remarks from affecting the pending privatization and transaction. And so the company would not comment on the matters related to the privatization offer.

And of course our company takes the privatization offer very seriously, so a special committee composed of independent directors has been established to evaluate the offer, and all communications with the offer will be conducted by this committee. The company will make announcement at appropriate times in accordance with the legal disclosure requirements.

For updates on the privatization offer, please refer to the company's official disclosures. But during the period of time, if there's any need from our investors, our company's management will give our full support possible.

If our investors would like to have a conversation with our special committee members, our independent directors, we can also make the contact for you.

Thank you so much for your understanding.

Thank you

Tim Hsiao, Morgan Stanley.

So my question is about the product, because the Zeekr's, first large IB SED9X, has received great feedback since the, its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show. How should we think about the model contribution and the margin of these models, into the second half. And in the meantime, it would be great to get some feedback or some, additional caller. About the another and new models are AX in fourth quarter.

Thank you.

(interpreted) So before answering your questions, I would like to add two points in the to respond to the Tina's question. So first of all, after we launched the 007 GT on the 15 of May, we already achieved 10,000 delivery.

So that shows that this model wins the customers recognition well. And the last month in April, we also launched the 009 Grant collectors edition. And also we received the orders far exceeded our previous expectation.

For the Lincoln 900, we also received a very high number of orders intake. So our factories are working overtime to ensure timely deliveries to our customers. So based on this very positive market performance of these three models we launched recently, we have confidence that we can achieve our ourselves target this year.

So to respond to your question on the Zeekr 9X and the Zeekr 8X, I think these two models have a very unique and good positioning, and both models are positioned at a luxury segments and they would both be equipped with a super electric hybrid, the power train. So there's a big potential for the both models, and after the debut of ZX at Shanghai Motor Show, we have received a very high attention from the global media outlets and the industry and our customers.

And the Zeekr 9X as well as the Z 8X have a very strong performances. Zeekr 9X would be worth the first 900 volts equipped with 900 volt technologies vehicle model, and it would support support the fastest charging speed and the longest the pure EV driving range and the fastest acceleration. And this is a very unique SUV model in a segments and powered by the super electric hybrid technology.

It combines the the good advantage of a pure EV powertrain, the plugin hybrid powertrain, and the range extender powertrain. I think this technology would be very leading in the new energy vehicles sector.

The the length of a Zeekr 9X is between 5.2m to 5.3 m, whilst the length of Zeekr 8X will be around will be over 5m. So they share a lot of technologies in common, but in different sizes, so they can target different segments.

According to our calculations, the Zeekr 9X and Zeekr 8X would have a quite impressive, margin performance, and they would offer higher vehicle margin of the current level of the current vehicles.

So from our perspective in the large vehicles segments and the EV sales growth was not as high as before, whilst the electric hybrids would have a very good potential, not just in the Chinese market but also in the global overseas market, including like Europe, the GCC countries, as well as the Southeast Asian markets.

So we are in parallel developing our domestic products for our domestic markets as well as for the international markets, aiming to timely deliver them to the customers.

Just one last question, I think, we're about to close it.

Ming Hsun Lee, Bank of America.

(interpreted) So, has developed the super hybrid technology and compared to the current PH cars or EREV cars in the market, what is the major advantage for this new technology and based on your expectation, how much extra volume sales you expect. After you, provide the super hybrid, version of your, new models. And, in the future, will you also consider, to, provide, the hybrid version for your existing models, or it will be, many for the models in the future?

(interpreted) So first of all, Lincoln Code 900 is using the EMP Powertrain system, which share a lot of technology in common with Geely's Powertrain system. And when it comes to the mechanical architecture, Zeekr 900 they use SPA evil architecture and upgrades of the previous SPA architecture. And when it comes to the Zeekr, when we developed the large size or mid to large size products, we would use a super H hybrid technology, which is different from the EMP and to differentiate the two brands.

So I would like, I have already introduced our super electric hybrid technologies, but I want to make at some points here. First of all, on the power of our super hybrid technologies, no matter when the battery is fully charged or the battery is running out of the electricity.

A hybrid technology can both provide the very good driving performance, like any other top end, the luxury products. So better beating the performance of an existing PH or EREV products in the market.

Secondly, on the fuel efficiency, no matter the wheels are drived by the e-motor or the directly from the gasoline engine or no matter the vehicle is driving at high speed or low speed, we can always have a very good fuel efficiency.

So that they on the charging and so our super electric hybrid power the techno products will be equipped with battery pack. Of one variant with over 50 kilowatt hour and the another variant around 80 kilowatt hour and our powertrain would be equipped with a 900 volts ultrafast charging technology.

So we can support ultrafast charging, providing the best charging experiences to our customers.

And another very important competitive factor about super electric hybrid technology is about the maintenance, the services. And so customers of our super H hybrid products, and they don't need to go into the maintenance as frequently as the other vehicles, and the cost for maintenance services will be much lower than our peer products.

And we would share more details and information about information about our super hybrid technologies as the products and technology events later. But what I can say here is that we hope that our super hybrid technology will be the new benchmark. And our internal target was made when we register the product as a techno the project is to contribute 150,000 vehicles to 200,000 vehicles per year for this product, this power train product in the future. Thank you.

This concludes.

This concludes. our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Yu Jing for any closing remarks.

So, thank you all for joining today's call. As I mentioned earlier, the manager here is more than happy to facilitate any, of your concerns or discussions, with either the the directors or, our parent company.

So if you have any or have any other questions, please feel free to contact us or the group IR team. Have a great day.

Thank you and bye bye.

Thank you.

The conference is now concluded.

Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Portions of this transcript that are marked (interpreted) were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call. The interpreter was provided by the company sponsoring this event.