Chinese car manufacturer Lynk & Co will not launch as an independent brand in Australia until at least 2028, with Head of Zeekr International Mars Chen revealing to Chasing Cars that there is “no plan” to commence right-hand drive development of the brand’s models in the short term.
“My number one message is that Lynk & Co will not enter the right-hand drive market for a certain, long period,” Chen said at a private event in advance of the 2025 Auto Shanghai motor show. “Let’s say three years.”
Lynk & Co 01
Lynk & Co is an additional brand of Chinese conglomerate Geely, which along with its just-launched eponymous marque also owns Volvo, Polestar, Radar, Geometry and Proton. It was an early entrant to the Chinese market in 2016 with a range of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The Sweden-headquartered Chinese marque produces nine different vehicles with a mixture of SUV and sedan models in full combustion, plug-in hybrid and fully-electric powertrain guises. Only the Volvo XC40-based Lynk & Co 01 is sold in Europe, though the midsize 08 PHEV crossover (offering 200km of electric-only range) launches there soon.
Instead of launching Lynk & Co in Australia in the short term, the Zeekr Group—itself a subdivision of Geely—will aim to build customer recognition and brand value in Australia for a number of years, with Chen stating that his key performance indicator is not outright volume.
“We must guarantee the first (brand, Zeekr) had some success, then we will consider the second one (Lynk & Co),” Chen told motoring media.
Lynk & Co 02
But despite head designers of both Zeekr and Lynk & Co making cases of why their brands—and cars—must be significantly differentiated from one another, Zeekr international markets boss Chen kindled rumours that Lynk & Co models might be rebadged and sold as Zeekr cars in Australia.
“The brands are drifting in different directions and the design language of our products is drifting away from each other,” said head of Zeekr design Stefan Sielaff.
“We have different paths and a different brand feeling,” echoed Stefan Rosen, head of Lynk & Co Design.
Those views may not be enough to stop a rebadging effort to avoid brand dilution in Australia, however, with Chen telling Chasing Cars that marketing Lynk & Co vehicles under the Zeekr badge “is a really nice potential option in the future.”
READ: Understanding the new Chinese car brands in Australia
Lynk & Co 01
The now-confirmed decision to delay the launch of Lynk & Co as an separately-marketed brand in Australia comes amid a dramatic uptick in the arrival of new Chinese brands in Australia, with Zeekr, XPeng, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, Skyworth, Deepal and others recently joining somewhat more established Chinese marques like MG, GWM and BYD in the local market.
Just as design language is diverging between Zeekr and Lynk & Co models, their price points are now substantially shifting—potentially causing integration headaches for rebadged models in Australia in future.
Geely has identified that Zeekr needs to move further upmarket in the countries in which it is sold, while Lynk & Co is doggedly avoiding luxury status in order to focus on younger (but still somewhat affluent) buyers. The difference can be analogised to that of Audi and Cupra within the Volkswagen Group.
Zeekr X 2025
In Australia, Zeekr currently sells two electric-only vehicles at radically different price points: the Zeekr X compact SUV (from $49,900 plus on-road costs), and the 009 luxury minivan (from $135,900 + ORC).
A third Zeekr vehicle has been confirmed for Australian launch in the form of the 7X midsize crossover which was expected to compete on price with the Tesla Model Y—but the project to shift the brand upmarket could see the 7X focus on rivals like the BMW iX3 instead.
Zeekr executives are currently mulling two choices for a fourth model launch: the flagship 9X large luxury SUV, or an as-yet unannounced upper-midsize crossover.
