Money paid, order locked, but the promise gone? ZEEKR "broke its promise" on covering the purchase tax, and hundreds of car owners angrily accused the company of "going back on its word."

According to relevant policies, starting from January 1, 2026, there has been a major adjustment to the purchase tax policy for new energy vehicles. The full exemption has been changed to a 50% reduction (at a 5% tax rate).

In the second half of last year, Zeekr launched a "New Year's purchase tax subsidy" program, stating that as long as customers locked in their orders before 24:00 on December 31, 2025, if the vehicle was invoiced and delivered in 2026 due to Zeekr's reasons, Zeekr would also provide a purchase tax subsidy, which would be deducted from the final payment of the order vehicle.

This commitment reassured many car owners, and they rushed to place orders during the policy window period. However, when 2026 arrived, Zeekr went back on its word. Many car owners reported to the "Next Generation Vehicle Research Institute" column that they had locked in their orders and paid the deposit within the specified time limit, but after the New Year, Zeekr officially stated that "it could not directly cover the purchase tax and could only compensate with points."

There are hundreds of such car owners from all over the country, and they self - mockingly call themselves "Zeekr's leeks." As of now, Zeekr has not issued a new response to the above situation.

In the view of industry experts, the reason for Zeekr's going back on its word may be production problems. Now facing a large number of user complaints, Zeekr has to choose between bearing economic losses and breaking its promise. Regardless of the outcome, this incident will have an adverse impact on its brand.

Policy Retreat: The Commitment to Cover Becomes an "Empty Promise"

For car owners, the adjustment of the purchase tax policy means a direct increase of about 5% in the car purchase cost. Taking the pricing of Zeekr's main models above 200,000 yuan into account, car owners need to pay about 10,000 yuan more in purchase tax, which is not a small amount for many car - buying families.

Therefore, in the highly competitive environment of domestic car companies, Zeekr has successively launched at least two rounds of "purchase tax coverage" programs, both stating that as long as customers lock in their orders, they can enjoy a deduction of tens of thousands of yuan from the final car purchase payment.

However, starting from late December 2025, the situation suddenly reversed. Many car owners reported that Zeekr salespeople began to contact them intensively, asking them to pay the final payment before the end of 2025 to cooperate with early invoicing without inspecting the car or knowing whether the vehicle met the delivery conditions. Otherwise, they would not be able to enjoy the purchase tax coverage policy.

"I haven't even seen the new car, and they ask me to pay the final payment? Are they afraid of subsidizing the purchase tax in 2026? Then what was the previous coverage program for?" Car owners said they could not accept the salespeople's proposal.

Li Fei (pseudonym), a car owner, said bluntly that after seeing Zeekr's previous commitment to cover the purchase tax, he paid the deposit and locked in his order on December 30, 2025. On December 31, the salesperson told him that the vehicle had rolled off the production line, but he did not see the production and transportation status on the Zeekr App. The salesperson promised that paying on the same day would allow for invoicing in 2026 and enjoying the purchase tax coverage policy. However, after making the payment, on the afternoon of January 2, the Zeekr salesperson said that they could not cover the purchase tax and could only give 30,000 consumption points in the Zeekr App (approximately equivalent to 3,000 yuan, while the vehicle purchase tax is about 11,000 yuan).

There are many car owners in a similar situation. The models they purchased cover a variety of popular models from Zeekr 001 to Zeekr X7, and the vehicle prices are generally above 200,000 yuan. Due to this incident, the car owners formed a "leek group" to seek the initial commitment from the official.

The "Next Generation Vehicle Research Institute" column verified the above situation with Zeekr. As of press time, the official had not responded. Later, the column called the store where Li Fei bought his car, and the other party said that Li Fei's problem had been solved, but did not disclose the specific solution.

According to some other car owners, the current official response is that the point compensation can be increased to an amount equivalent to the vehicle purchase tax, but this plan has not been recognized by all car owners. "The App points can only be used on the official channels, with too many restrictions. What we want is the purchase tax coverage promised at the beginning, not this kind of disguised 'voucher'."

However, another insider told the "Next Generation Vehicle Research Institute" that Zeekr is not entirely responsible for this incident. When some car owners communicated with Zeekr salespeople, they hoped to delay the car - picking time until January 2026. "They want to get both Zeekr's subsidy and the local national subsidy," and the change in Zeekr's coverage policy made their "plan fail."

Superimposed Disputes: Model Upgrade Backstabbing and Unfulfilled Intelligent Driving Commitments

In addition to the purchase tax coverage storm, recently on the Black Cat Complaint platform, many Zeekr 009 car owners collectively complained about the "backstabbing" incident of the new car.

Zhao Xin (pseudonym), a car owner, told the "Next Generation Vehicle Research Institute" column that he spent 430,000 yuan (final price) to buy a Zeekr 009 in July 2024. In August of the same year, Geely Automobile held its 2024 mid - year performance press conference. An Conghui, then President of Geely Holding Group and CEO of Zeekr Intelligent Technology, said that for the new Zeekr 009, as well as the 2025 Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 007, there would be no annual model iteration plan within the next year from the product release date.

However, just a few months after this statement, in January 2025, Zeekr announced the launch of the NVIDIA intelligent driving version of the 009 as an upgraded version. Zhao Xin said that this new model not only has different functions and architectures but also has functions such as urban NZP. In the old model he bought, such intelligent functions have not been launched yet, and the official had previously promised to upgrade relevant functions for old car owners within 2025.

Judging from the complaints on the Black Cat Complaint platform, there are many car owners with the same experience as Zhao Xin. Many car owners said that when the 2024 Zeekr 009 was released, the press conference clearly announced that core intelligent functions such as urban NZP assisted driving and memory parking would be gradually pushed. These functions were important considerations for their car purchase. However, as of January 2026, more than a year after the car purchase, the relevant promised functions have not been pushed, and the core intelligent experience of the vehicle has "shrunk."

What is even more unacceptable to car owners is Zeekr's subsequent handling method. Zhao Xin revealed that the official had communicated with him. If the number of old car owners who needed intelligent hardware upgrades reached more than 1,500, they could pay for the upgrade. However, the subsequent crowdfunding did not reach the target number, and the upgrade plan came to nothing.

"Zeekr's crowdfunding didn't notify all car owners at all, and the upgrade is what Zeekr should do to fulfill its promise. Doing crowdfunding is just a way to perfunctory us. It's completely unreasonable," Zhao Xin said. The "Next Generation Vehicle Research Institute" column verified the issues of Zeekr 009 model upgrade commitment and unfulfilled intelligent driving functions with Zeekr. As of press time, the official also did not respond.

Troubled Times: Unachieved Annual Goals and Entangled in Supply Chain Litigation

Behind the successive user disputes is Zeekr's troubled year in 2025.

Public information shows that Zeekr's annual sales in 2025 did not meet expectations. The cumulative annual delivery was 224,133 units, only a 1% year - on - year increase. The annual sales target set at the beginning of the year was 300,000 units, and the completion rate was less than 75%. Although the sales volume in December 2025 exceeded 30,000 units for the first time, setting a new record, it still failed to reverse the under - expected situation.

While facing sales pressure, Zeekr also underwent a major group restructuring. At the end of December 2025, Geely Automobile issued an announcement saying that it had officially merged with Zeekr. Zeekr became a wholly - owned subsidiary of Geely Automobile and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, less than 600 days after Zeekr's IPO in the United States. This merger is interpreted as an important step in Geely's "Return to One Geely" strategy, aiming to reduce internal friction, concentrate resources to participate in market competition, and achieve cost savings in research and development, procurement, and other aspects. However, the frequent structural adjustments have also raised questions about Zeekr's operational stability.

More troublesome is that Zeekr has also been involved in a supply chain lawsuit worth up to 2.3 billion yuan. In December 2025, Sunwoda issued an announcement showing that Weirui, a company under Geely Holding (Zeekr holds 51% of the shares), officially sued Sunwoda Power, a wholly - owned subsidiary of Sunwoda, claiming compensation of 2.314 billion yuan. The core dispute lies in the quality defects of the Sunwoda batteries installed in the Zeekr 001 WE86 model, which forced Zeekr to carry out large - scale battery replacements. Zeekr claims that the battery cells delivered by Sunwoda have serious quality problems, resulting in slower charging speed and battery capacity attenuation of the vehicles. To restore the brand image, Zeekr launched a "Winter Care Campaign" at the end of 2024, replacing new battery packs for relevant car owners for free, and the relevant costs should be borne by Sunwoda; while Sunwoda believes that the battery performance is affected by the vehicle's BMS strategy, and there is a huge difference in the determination of responsibility between the two parties. This lawsuit may not only swallow up Sunwoda's net profit in the past two years but also put Zeekr's supply chain management ability under market scrutiny.

Zhang Xiang, the Secretary - General of the International Association of Intelligent Vehicle Technology and a visiting professor at Huanghe Science and Technology College, analyzed the Zeekr purchase tax coverage incident and said that Zeekr's going back on its word is likely due to production problems. Originally, it was planned that most orders would not be delivered across the year, so it launched a coverage commitment to attract users to place orders. However, unforeseen accidents occurred in subsequent production, resulting in a large number of orders unable to be delivered on time.

"According to the commitment, Zeekr needs to pay more than 10,000 yuan in purchase tax subsidies for each car. For Zeekr, which has a high proportion of high - end models, it will be a huge economic loss. In addition, the previous coverage commitment was not bound by a contract, which laid a hidden danger for the subsequent going back on its word," Zhang Xiang said frankly. For car companies, in this situation, they often have to choose one of two options: either bear the economic loss and fulfill the promise, or break the promise and damage the brand image. It is difficult to find a perfect solution.

Industry insiders generally believe that 2026 will be a challenging year for Zeekr. On the one hand, the policy of reducing the purchase tax on new energy vehicles continues to affect market demand, and car owners will be more cautious in their car - buying decisions; on the other hand, industry competition is intensifying, and many car companies are focusing on resources to improve product strength and service quality. The multiple problems faced by Zeekr, such as the brand trust crisis, sales pressure, and supply chain disputes, will make it difficult for Zeekr to compete in the market in 2026. How to properly resolve the current user disputes and rebuild car owners' trust will be the key for Zeekr to overcome the difficulties.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Sina Technology," author: Luo Ning, published by 36Kr with authorization.