Ex-BMW Veteran on Zeekr: Chinese EVs Already Match the European Premium
D.Novikov
Lothar Schupet, who spent 23 years at BMW, now runs Zeekr in Europe and insists Geely's premium brand is already on par with BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
China’s Zeekr is pushing harder than ever to position itself not as just another EV badge, but as a direct rival to the German premium brands. The head of Zeekr Europe, Lothar Schupet, who previously spent 23 years at BMW, says the brand’s cars are already on par with premium manufacturers in terms of quality and performance.
The statement matters beyond Zeekr’s usual ambitions. It comes from someone who knows BMW’s standards from the inside and is now building a European network for the Chinese brand owned by Geely. Zeekr has already rolled out four models in Europe: the 001, X, 7X and 7GT. The last one is especially telling — an all-electric shooting brake that can charge from 10 to 80 % in just 13 minutes, pressuring rivals not only on design but also on refuelling speed.
For now Zeekr is betting on fleet customers and dealer-network expansion. Full retail isn’t in place yet; the brand mostly operates test-drive centres. It is looking for partners among dealers that already sell BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Maserati, as well as Geely’s sister brands Volvo and Polestar.
In Germany, Zeekr wants to open sales points in five metropolitan areas by the end of the year: Hamburg, Düsseldorf/Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich. Berlin is also on the table. European production remains possible down the line, but for now cars will keep coming from China — Schupet explains it through the speed, flexibility and agility of the home industrial base.
For German premium players this is an uncomfortable signal. Chinese brands used to compete mostly on price and equipment, but now they are moving onto the territory of quality, status and dealer experience. BYD has already overtaken Tesla in battery-electric sales, and Zeekr wants to prove that Geely can play not just in the mass segment but higher up as well.
Buyers are no longer comparing these cars with the “Chinese of the past”, but directly with the BMW iX, Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, Audi Q8 e-tron and Porsche Macan Electric. The real question now isn’t whether Zeekr can impress in the first months, but how it will hold up over 5–10 years of ownership, service and residual value.
Premium doesn’t start with a big screen and quick acceleration. It starts where, years later, the owner still understands what they paid for.
