Zeekr and Lynk & Co have each established their own vehicle research institutes, accelerating the implementation of the "One Geely" strategy | Exclusive from 36Kr

The "One Geely" strategy is gradually taking shape.

36Kr Auto learned from multiple sources familiar with the matter that today, Geely Group issued an internal announcement, announcing the establishment of the Zeekr Vehicle Research Institute and the Lynk & Co Vehicle Research Institute.

Among them, the Z, C, and M product lines are assigned to the Zeekr Vehicle Research Institute. Under these three product lines, there are models such as the Zeekr 9X, Zeekr MIX, and Zeekr 007; the L and K product lines are assigned to the Lynk & Co Vehicle Research Institute. Under these two product lines, there are models such as the Lynk & Co 900 and Lynk & Co 08.

Last year, two classic models under the Zeekr Group, the Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 009, both belonged to the Z product line.

So far, Geely Group has vehicle research institutes for brands such as the Lynk & Co Vehicle Research Institute, the Zeekr Vehicle Research Institute, and the Galaxy Vehicle Research Institute.

Among them, the Lynk & Co Vehicle Research Institute has existed before, the Zeekr Vehicle Research Institute was newly established, and the Galaxy Vehicle Research Institute has new - energy vehicle brands such as Geometry and Galaxy under it.

Establishing vehicle research institutes to independently manage the vehicle - related businesses of each brand is an established tradition of Geely Group. Now that Zeekr and Lynk & Co have their own vehicle research institutes, it means that after the Zeekr Group was integrated into Geely Group, the two brands of Zeekr and Lynk & Co are operating independently again.

At this stage of the integration, Geely Group's integration idea is roughly clear: in the future, Qianli Technology will be responsible for the research and development of assisted driving, and the Central Research Institute will be responsible for the development of intelligent cockpits and platform technology architectures. Together, they will provide technology for each vehicle research institute;

Each vehicle research institute will be responsible for vehicle development - related work such as marketing, product definition, and interior and exterior project management of each brand under Geely.

Geely Group's Integration Context

Geely Group's integration started with the integration of the intelligent cockpit teams.

At the end of April this year, Geely Group issued an announcement to integrate the intelligent cockpit teams of Zeekr and Geely Research Institute. The integrated team is led by Jiang Jun, the chief cockpit scientist of Geely Group. However, Zeekr models will still use the ZEEKR AI OS cockpit system in the short term, while other brands of Geely Group will be equipped with the Flyme Auto cockpit system.

Currently, the integration at the intelligent cockpit level is roughly completed. Du Ping, the former top - level person in charge of the intelligent cockpit at Geely Research Institute, has stepped down as the deputy dean of Geely Research Institute and has been reassigned as the chief engineer of intelligent planning, responsible for supply - chain - related work.

Jiang Jun, the former top - level person in charge of the Zeekr intelligent cockpit, has been appointed as the deputy dean of Geely Research Institute, leading the integrated intelligent cockpit team.

Subsequently, Geely Group established the Galaxy Business Unit to manage all new - energy passenger vehicle brands of the group.

Last month, Geely Group launched the integration of the assisted - driving teams.

Geely merged the Zeekr assisted - driving team, the Geely Research Institute assisted - driving team, and the assisted - driving brand "Maichi Zhixing" under Megvii into Chongqing Qianli Technology, forming a new team of more than 3,000 people.

After the integration, Qianli Technology adopts a "dual - CEO" structure: Wang Jun, the co - president of Qianli Technology, serves as the CEO, Chen Qi, the former vice - president of Zeekr Intelligent Driving, serves as the co - CEO, and Yang Mu, the co - founder of Megvii Technology, serves as the CTO.

Yin Qi and Li Chuanhai, the former dean of Geely Central Research Institute, still serve as the chairman and vice - chairman of Qianli Technology respectively.

Now that Zeekr and Lynk & Co have their own vehicle research institutes, it means that the two brands have moved from merger to independence.

Zeekr was originally the electric - vehicle business group under the Lynk & Co brand. It became independent from the Lynk & Co brand in 2021, shouldering Geely Group's expectation of brand upgrading.

In November last year, Geely Group issued an announcement to integrate the Lynk & Co brand and the Zeekr brand. Zeekr Auto will acquire 51% of the equity of Lynk & Co Auto. This acquisition was completed in February this year, and the new company after the strategic integration was named "Zeekr Technology Group".

However, with the advancement of the "One Geely" strategy in the Taizhou Declaration, problems emerged. In May this year, Gui Shengyue, the CEO of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited, said externally that Geely Automobile and Zeekr belong to two different independently listed companies, and the two companies have different employee incentive mechanisms, resulting in many collaborations only being promoted superficially, and it is difficult to complete in - depth resource integration.

Given the low tolerance for errors in the current Chinese automotive market environment, Geely has to integrate quickly to change the situation of its automotive brands being "small, scattered, and chaotic".

Therefore, Geely Group decided to take Zeekr private. At the Geely Group shareholders' meeting on September 5th, independent shareholders voted with a high rate of 95.14% to pass the proposal to take Zeekr private.

Now that Zeekr and Lynk & Co have established their own vehicle research institutes, the "One Geely" strategy is gradually becoming clear.

Geely's Integration Expectations

Looking at the context of Geely's current integration, it can be seen that its integration generally follows this idea:

Unify technology R & D under the Central Research Institute, and let each vehicle research institute be responsible for the model development of each brand.

This integration model of a central research institute plus satellite vehicle research institutes is not unique to Geely. BYD has also used it before.

Under this integration framework, the Central Research Institute is like a thick trunk, and each vehicle research institute is like a different branch.

The Central Research Institute provides unified technical support for each vehicle research institute, avoiding repeated R & D of technologies such as intelligentization by each brand; having the vehicle research institutes only responsible for vehicle development is a relatively lightweight brand - operation model, which facilitates the group to flexibly adjust each brand according to changes in the market situation.

Behind this integration model is the industry background of fierce market competition and tightened corporate resources. The organizational structure of a central research institute plus satellite vehicle research institutes is the preparation made by the enterprise for the upcoming and more brutal elimination round.

Geely Group has high expectations for the integration effect.

In May this year, at the first - quarter performance press conference and the "One Geely" strategic integration plan briefing held by Geely Group, Gan Jiayue, the CEO of Geely Group, mentioned the efficiency - improvement goals after integration: the growth - benefit goal exceeds 5%, and the efficiency goals for R & D, management, and marketing expenses are 15% - 20%.

In terms of cost reduction, Li Donghui, the CEO of Geely Holding Group, said that Geely Group estimates that after the integration of the two groups, the R & D link can save billions of yuan annually, and management and marketing expenses will also be significantly reduced. He also said that joint procurement last year saved an additional billions of yuan on top of the original budget.

In addition, according to Geely Group's vision, after the establishment of different vehicle research institutes, the differentiated positioning of Geely's major brands will be strengthened. Among them, Zeekr is positioned as luxurious, extreme, and technological; Lynk & Co is positioned as trendy, sporty, and individual; Galaxy is positioned as a high - value mainstream new - energy brand; and China Star focuses on fuel - efficient and intelligent fuel vehicles.

Whether these ideas can be implemented can be glimpsed from Geely Group's delivery situation since the second half of this year.

In July this year, Geely Group delivered 237,700 new vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 58%; in August, Geely's delivery volume increased to 250,200 vehicles month - on - month, a year - on - year increase of 38%. By the end of August this year, Geely Group had cumulatively delivered 1.897 million new vehicles, and it had completed 63.2% of the annual sales target of 3 million vehicles.

In 2027, can Geely become a giant automaker with annual sales of 5 million vehicles as expected? Judging from the current sales situation, the possibility of Geely achieving its goal is clearly foreseeable.

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