NEW Chinese EV entrant Zeekr has announced the first four dealerships in its network as part of its expansion across Australia.

It said that its dealer network was being established with the focus on “the right teams” to deliver “the quality, innovation and service that define the Zeekr experience.”

The four dealerships are in the Perth suburb of Victoria Park, to be called Zeekr Vic Park City, part of the AutoLeague group; and John McGrath Auto Group in Canberra trading as Zeekr Canberra.ASX-listed automotive retailer Autosports Group will operate Zeekr Doncaster in Victoria and in NSW, SCL Automotive will run the dealership Zeekr Parramatta. 

This is SCL’s first dealership outside of its home state of South Australia where it operates under the SCL and Southgate names with franchises including Mazda, Volkswagen, GWM and LDV.

Zeekr Australia said it will announce additional dealer partners in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide in the coming months. 

At the Australian launch of the brand in August, Zeekr Australia head of ownership experience, Matthew McCroary, said the brand will offer maintenance across its dealership network for those who wish to service at Zeekr dealerships.

“Servicing is every two years or 40,000km, whichever occurs first, and how that plays out we will announce (closer to the launch),” he said. 

“As we are a franchise model, naturally they will be in line to do it.

“We can’t step in the way of consumers choosing to service elsewhere, but we do highly recommend the Zeekr partners.” 

The brand will also have service updates that won’t require a physical interaction through its over-the-air (OTA) updates. 

It said all Zeekr models will feature a 5G Optus SIM card for data and will receive software changes wirelessly as they are released.

“OTA updates are standard with all of our products, and our connectivity package is standard, at no additional cost to the consumer at this point in time,” said Mr McCroary.