If you need to be reminded that car companies are dumping vehicles on our market from China, then let me reintroduce you to Zeekr, a premium EV brand from the People’s Republic. Officially launched in the Philippines just last month, Zeekr is distributed by the Autohub Group, the same team that imports and sells such automotive marques as Mini and Lotus.

At the brand launch, Autohub presented a pair of battery-electric cars, the 001 station wagon and the X crossover SUV.

Because the brand is marketed as premium, the prices are understandably high (and that’s putting it mildly). The 001 sells for P3,625,000 (Long Range) and P4,200,000 (Privilege), while the X goes for P2,600,000 (Premium) and P3,000,000 (Privilege).

From where I sit, Autohub now has a threefold challenge: (1) selling a Chinese car brand; (2) marketing an all-electric product lineup; and (3) convincing Filipinos to shell out this much for, well, Chinese electric vehicles. I don’t envy the distributor’s sales staff.

Now, because Zeekr’s cars are prohibitively priced—and also because our vehicle market notoriously has a gray segment—profit-minded importers will always find a way to bring in cheaper units from China (which are subsidized by the government). And apparently, they did.

A person familiar with the brand has tipped us off about an official bulletin sent by Zeekr—which, by way, is owned by Geely—to its global distributors, and that includes Autohub.

Said bulletin announced that Zeekr would start imposing “strict measures against gray-market imports” by July 15. This is, supposedly, to protect the brand’s authorized distributors against unofficial merchants. How will the mother company do this? By disabling the essential features of irregularly imported cars, like “screen functions,” for instance.

As you know, modern technology now allows over-the-air software updates. A Zeekr vehicle has embedded chips (SIM cards) or a telematics device that enables remote communication between it and a service center. For a painless crash course, click here.

Based on the bulletin, Zeekr doesn’t approve of its Chinese-market units being taken out of its domestic territory and, in so doing, hurting the feelings of its distributors.

According to my source, the units being sold by gray-market importers are slightly cheaper (but not by much) than the ones being peddled by Autohub. Moreover, the gray-market ones are China domestic-market units, and as such come with GB/T chargers. The official units from Autohub, on the other hand, are specced for Philippine roads and conditions—not to mention that they are bundled with the right CCS2 chargers (which will let owners juice up their Zeekr cars in malls, hotels, fuel stations and other public places).

An additional point of comparison (at least according to my informant) between the gray-market units and the authorized ones is their list of features. The CDM units have more luxury features, but the PDM units have more safety tech.

Finally, the official units stand to enjoy the headache-free care of a legitimate distributor.

It’s good that Zeekr safeguards the interests of both its distributors and its customers. I just can’t shake off a nagging curiosity: What if the mother company is playing both the authorized distributor and the gray market?

Nah. I think I need to forget about these K-drama plots in my head sleep these thoughts off now.