Zeekr 001 vs Tesla Model S: Landed-Cost Reality Check in the EU - China EV Mart
Zeekr 001 ($38,000 ex-factory, 710 km CLTC) against the Tesla Model S — full tariff-stack and landed-cost math, with Geely's 18.8% CVD and US-import duty nuance.
TL;DR
The Zeekr 001 and the Tesla Model S are not direct competitors, and the reason is structural rather than just price. The Zeekr 001 lands in Germany at $65,694 from a $38,000 ex-factory base (+72.9%), paying a 10% EU duty plus an 18.8% Geely-group countervailing duty. The Tesla Model S, built in Fremont and imported from the US, pays only the 10% EU duty with no countervailing duty at all — but it listed around €109,990 in Germany and has now been discontinued in Europe, so this comparison is more a lesson in tariff architecture than a buying decision.
What “landed cost” means here
Landed cost is the total outlay to move a vehicle from the factory gate to the buyer’s door: import duty, countervailing duty where applicable, VAT/GST, ocean freight, customs clearance, certification, registration, and inland transport. China EV Mart computes every figure with the single compounding formula documented in the landed-cost methodology.
Three tariff terms do most of the work in this comparison:
- Standard (MFN) duty — the EU’s baseline 10% tariff on imported passenger cars, applied to the CIF value.
- Countervailing duty (CVD) — an extra EU anti-subsidy duty that applies to Chinese-built BEVs only, under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2754. It is producer-specific: Geely (including Zeekr) pays 18.8%, the “other cooperating” producers pay 20.7%, BYD pays 17.0%, SAIC/MG pays 35.3%, and Tesla’s Shanghai-built cars pay 7.8%.
- VAT — Germany’s 19% value-added tax, charged last on the duty-inclusive total.
The formula compounds rather than adds: base × (1 + standard duty) × (1 + CVD) × (1 + VAT) + fixed costs. Treating it as a simple sum of percentages is the most expensive mistake a first-time importer makes.
The two tariff stacks are not the same
The single most important fact in this comparison: the countervailing duty is a China-only measure, and the Model S is not a Chinese car.
| Tariff line | Zeekr 001 (China, Geely) | Tesla Model S (US, Fremont) |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | China | United States |
| Standard EU duty | 10% | 10% |
| Countervailing duty | 18.8% (Geely group) | None — CVD targets Chinese BEVs only |
| German VAT | 19% | 19% |
| Combined pre-VAT | 28.8% | 10% |
| EU availability | Actively exported | Discontinued; no new inventory |
The 18.8% is Geely’s sampled rate, not the 20.7% “other cooperating” default. Zeekr is a Geely Group entity, so its BEVs inherit Geely’s rate by group attribution — the same way Lynk & Co and Geely Galaxy do. On the Zeekr 001 the CVD line is $7,858; at the 20.7% default it would have been roughly $8,651, a saving of about $790. The nuance matters, but the edge is modest, as detailed in Zeekr’s 18.8% countervailing duty explainer.
The Tesla Model S, by contrast, is assembled in Fremont, California. Giga Berlin builds only the Model Y, so European Model S and Model X units were always US imports — which means they faced the EU’s 10% MFN duty and nothing else on the tariff side. No countervailing duty, because Regulation 2024/2754 covers BEVs exported from China, not cars built in the US.
The spec gap
The two cars occupy different segments, which is visible in the numbers before any tariff is applied.
| Specification | Zeekr 001 | Model S Dual Motor AWD | Model S Plaid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body style | Shooting-brake / liftback | Luxury liftback sedan | Luxury liftback sedan |
| Length | 4,977 mm | ~5.0 m (five-metre saloon) | ~5.0 m |
| Motor power | 680 kW | 670 PS (~493 kW) | 1,020 PS (~750 kW) |
| 0–100 km/h | 3.08 s | 3.2 s (0–62 mph) | 2.1 s (0–62 mph, rollout) |
| Top speed | 280 km/h | 250 km/h (155 mph) | 322 km/h (200 mph) |
| Battery (net) | 95 kWh | ~95 kWh NCA (unofficial) | ~95 kWh NCA (unofficial) |
| Range | 710 km CLTC | ~723 km WLTP (19″) | ~695 km WLTP (19″) |
| Base price | $38,000 (China) | €109,990 (Germany) | €119,990 (Germany) |
Two caveats sit under this table. First, CLTC and WLTP ranges are not directly comparable — CLTC tends to read higher than WLTP for the same hardware, so the Zeekr’s 710 km is not an apples-to-apples win over the Model S’s ~723 km WLTP. See CLTC vs WLTP for the detail. Second, the battery figure for the Model S is an unofficial net figure sourced from EV-Database, since Tesla does not publish an official pack size; the Zeekr figure comes from the catalog.
The headline takeaway is the price, not the spec sheet: a $38,000 ex-factory Zeekr 001 against a €109,990 German Model S. Those two numbers are separated by a factor of roughly 2.3 even before any landed-cost adjustment.
The landed-cost math, worked: Zeekr 001 → Germany
Here is the itemized landed cost for the Zeekr 001 into Germany, straight from the catalog’s landed-cost record:
| Cost item | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
| Base price (CIF) | $38,000 |
| Standard import duty (10%) | $3,800 |
| Countervailing duty (18.8%) | $7,858 |
| VAT (19%) | $9,435 |
| RoRo freight | $2,000 |
| Customs clearance | $350 |
| Certification | $3,250 |
| Registration | $500 |
| Inland transport | $500 |
| Total landed | $65,694 (+72.9%) |
The full Zeekr 001 spread across 30 markets runs from $44,080 in Qatar (+16%) to $73,170 in Mexico (+92.6%), with the EU cluster sitting near the top because of the countervailing duty. Germany is not the cheapest EU destination — Sweden and Denmark land higher because of their 25% VAT — but it is the reference point most importers ask about first.
The same-base hypothetical: what the CVD actually costs
To isolate the tariff effect, hold the base price constant and ask what a US-built car would land for in Germany against the Chinese Zeekr. Using the methodology’s fixed-cost benchmarks and Germany’s 19% VAT, both at a $38,000 base:
| Line | Zeekr 001 (10% + 18.8% CVD) | Hypothetical US-built car (10%, no CVD) |
|---|---|---|
| Base price | $38,000 | $38,000 |
| Standard duty | $3,800 | $3,800 |
| Countervailing duty | $7,858 | $0 |
| VAT (19%) | $9,435 | $7,942 |
| Fixed costs | $6,600 | $6,600 |
| Total landed | $65,694 | $56,342 |
The gap is $9,352. Notice it is larger than the $7,858 CVD line item on its own — because German VAT is charged on the duty-inclusive total, so the 18.8% countervailing duty also attracts 19% VAT on top. The all-in cost of the CVD, once VAT compounds over it, is about $9,350 on this car.
That is the structural edge a US-built car enjoys in the EU tariff stack: skip the CVD entirely, and an identical $38,000 car lands about 14% cheaper. The point is not that the Model S is cheap — it is not — but that its tariff burden is genuinely lighter than the Zeekr’s, purely because of country of origin.
Why the real numbers still don’t favor the Model S
The hypothetical above is instructive but detached from reality, for two reasons.
First, the Model S base price is far higher than $38,000. Its last listed German price was €109,990 for the Dual Motor AWD and €119,990 for the Plaid, after Tesla raised prices by roughly €17,000 on the base model in early 2025. At the September 2026 EUR/USD rate of about 1.15, that is roughly $127,000 and $139,000 respectively — nearly double the Zeekr 001’s $65,694 German landed cost, and those are retail prices that already include Tesla’s margin and VAT. Skipping an 18.8% CVD cannot close a base-price gap of that size.
Second, the Model S is no longer available new in Europe. Tesla removed the Model S and Model X from the German configurator in 2025, leaving only whatever inventory remained — and there was effectively none left in Germany. By April 2026 Tesla confirmed Model S and Model X production had ended entirely, with only a few hundred units left in global inventory, almost all in the US. In practical terms, a European buyer cannot currently order a new Model S at any price.
So the comparison resolves to this: the Zeekr 001 is the car you can actually import today, and it is the one that pays more in relative tariff terms — 28.8% before VAT versus the Model S’s 10% — precisely because the EU’s countervailing-duty regime punishes Chinese-built EVs and leaves US-built cars untouched.
The Author’s Take
Position: In my view, comparing the Zeekr 001 to the Tesla Model S is mostly a demonstration of how the EU tariff stack treats country of origin, not a genuine purchase comparison — the Model S is gone from Europe, and even when it was there, its US origin let it skip the very countervailing duty that makes the Zeekr expensive.
Reasoning: First, the countervailing duty is China-only, so a Fremont-built Model S paid 10% duty and nothing else, while the Zeekr 001 pays 10% plus 18.8% Geely-group CVD plus VAT compounded on top — a structural gap worth roughly $9,350 on an identical base price. Second, that tariff advantage never mattered in practice because the Model S started near €110,000, about 2.3× the Zeekr’s ex-factory price, so no duty saving could bring it into the Zeekr’s cost band. Third, the Model S has been discontinued in Europe, which makes the whole exercise academic for anyone importing today — the Zeekr 001 is the only one of the two you can actually land.
Disclosure: This is my analysis of published EU tariff law, the China EV Mart landed-cost records, and third-party pricing reports, not legal or tax advice. Countervailing-duty rates, Tesla pricing, and Model S availability can change; confirm current schedules and inventory with a customs broker or the seller before pricing anything.
Related reading
- Zeekr’s 18.8% Countervailing Duty
- Geely’s 18.8% Countervailing Duty
- Landed Cost Methodology
- EU Import Guide
- Why the Sticker Price Is Never the Landed Price
- CLTC vs WLTP Range
- Zeekr 001 catalog page
Sources
- China EV Mart — Zeekr 001 catalog record: $38,000 base, 710 km CLTC, 95 kWh, 680 kW, 30-market landed-cost table (data updated 2026-09-07) — /vehicles/zeekr-001/
- European Commission — Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2754, definitive countervailing duties on BEVs from China (BYD 17.0%, Geely 18.8%, SAIC 35.3%, other cooperating 20.8%, non-cooperating 35.3%) — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2024/2754/oj — 30 October 2024
- China EV Mart — Landed Cost Methodology (compounding formula and fixed-cost benchmarks) — /docs/landed-cost-methodology/
- Motor1 — “Tesla Model S suddenly €17,000 more expensive in Germany” (Dual Motor AWD €109,990, Plaid €119,990, specs, ~95 kWh NCA battery per EV-Database) — https://www.motor1.com/features/750090/tesla-model-s-price-increase-germany — 2025 (accessed 2026-09-15)
- InsideEVs — “The Tesla Model X And Model S Are Dead In Europe” (Europe left with inventory-only; no built-to-order units) — https://insideevs.com/news/767444/tesla-model-s-model-x-dead-europe — 2025 (accessed 2026-09-15)
- Electrek — “Tesla confirms Model S and Model X production is over — only ~600 left” (production ended; ~295 new Model S units left, nearly all in the US) — https://electrek.co/2026/04/01/tesla-model-s-x-production-over-only-inventory-left — 1 April 2026
- Kelley Blue Book — “2026 Tesla Model S Price” (US MSRP: AWD $86,630, Plaid $101,630) — https://www.kbb.com/tesla/model-s/ — accessed 2026-09-15
- Trading Economics — EUR/USD exchange rate (1.1546 on 15 September 2026), used for EUR→USD conversions in this article — https://tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/currency — 15 September 2026