Zeekr VP Burns Cadillac, Highlights “Rise of China” and “Glory of Detroit No More” – CleanTechnica

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

What has been going on between Zeekr and Cadillac over in China?!

There’s been a little bit of trash talk going on over there in China between Zeekr and Cadillac. This follows some unhappiness among Zeekr customers and then Cadillac trying to capitalize on that unhappiness — but not exactly nailing it. Here’s the series of events and key factors:

1. Zeekr just launched the 2025 Zeekr 007 sedan and 2025 Zeekr 001.
2. These two new models are updates and improvements over their predecessors, but they come just about 6 months after those predecessors arrived on the market.
3. Zeekr owners got upset that their quite-new vehicles were already being hit with big depreciation due to these new versions coming out so soon.
4. Cadillac responded to that by posting a new-customer pitch on Weibo that specifically mentioned itself as a Zeekr “replacement.” (Interestingly, “ZEEKER REPLACEMNET” was Cadillac’s lead text in the Weibo post, not only misspelling “replacement” but also misspelling “Zeekr.”)
5. That marketing attempt didn’t go over particularly well. Zeekr VP Zhu Ling turned around and burned Cadillac. Zhu Ling noted that Cadillac was a classic brand, but that it was time to move on. More specifically, he said (in Chinese): “The electric age, the rise of China, the glory of Detroit is no more.”
6. Also, seemingly responding to Cadillac and discussing the 007, he added: “It’s faster than you, it’s smarter than you, it’s younger than you, and it’s more affordable than you. Time doesn’t go back, history doesn’t go back. See you in my mirror.”

Them are fightin’ words.

Cadillac pulled down its post soon after it went viral, but “Cadillac vs Zeekr” became a trending topic on Weibo.

The base version of the 007 costs just RMB 209,900 ($29,400) and has 310 kW of power. And just look at the thing!