Automakers and marathons have long been closely linked. Take the Shanghai Marathon as an example: ZEEKR succeeded Volvo, and Volvo had previously succeeded BMW — all luxury marques. But nowadays Chinese marathons are dominated by new-energy vehicles.
First, let's sort out the relationship between the two brands: both are within the Geely holdings system. ZEEKR belongs toGeely Auto.while Volvo Cars is controlled byGeely Holding.Geely Auto and Geely Holding are not the same company. So this round of brand swapping likely isn't a direct internal resource reallocation within the group.
ZEEKR, the Shanghai Marathon's honor sponsor, is also the title sponsor of the Chengdu Marathon,and Geely Group, to which ZEEKR belongs, last year secured the title sponsorship for the 2025–2026 Hangzhou Marathon and deployed a fully electrified support fleet; Hongqi Tiangong staged an all‑electric parade at this year's Changchun Marathon. Avita at the Chongqing Marathon is also a new‑energy vehicle brand.
Even on overseas racecourses, China's new‑energy sector continues to push.BYD pulled off something big in Singapore — displacing Standard Chartered, the race's 22‑year consecutive title sponsor, and becoming a sponsor of the Singapore International Marathon.The vigorous development of China's new‑energy vehicle brands in recent yearshas also caused them to make waves on the marathon scene.
The marathon arena
isn't it the natural "showroom" for new‑energy vehicles?
Why have China’s new-energy vehicle (NEV) makers collectively “fallen in love” with marathon racing? The reasons aren’t hard to understand.China’s NEV industry has reached an inflection point. Brands like BYD, ZEEKR, and Geely are selling like crazy worldwide. ZEEKR’s average price per car is nearly RMB 370,000, it has entered more than 50 countries, and monthly deliveries keep hitting new highs. When automakers have money, they want to make moves — marathons have large crowds and huge exposure, making them a giant brand billboard.Looking deeper, the NEV–marathon partnership is essentially a strong alignment of target audiences.Among full-marathon runners, men aged 35–39 are the largest group, accounting for 20.65%, while among full-marathon women the largest group is 40–44, accounting for 22.68%.The core marathon participant is precisely in the social backbone in terms of age and income — they have stable purchasing power, practical car needs in life and work, and are often the decision-makers when buying a car. They are exactly the people EV brands most want to reach.In addition, the gender breakdown of EV owners is fairly close to that of marathon runners. According to the Chinese Athletics Association’s "2025 China Marathon Events Blue Book," the proportion of men in both full and half marathon fields exceeds 70%, with the full-marathon category approaching roughly 80% male.A National Bureau of Statistics survey found that among those who own or intend to purchase new-energy vehicles, people aged 30–49 account for 69.9% in total. This means marketing at marathon events can proportionally reach the same demographic, achieving synchronized, precise coverage.
For car brands, the marathon is no longer a “niche sports-marketing scene.”The real value of a large city marathon is not just the tens of thousands of participants — it’s also their families, friends, employers, running clubs, and the millions of online followers behind them.Running a marathon and buying a new-energy vehicle are themselves two very typical urban lifestyle consumption choices. One signals, “I’m willing to invest in my body.” The other signals, “I’m willing to invest in the quality of my mobility.” The underlying consumer logic of both is actually very similar.A shift in mindset
A major change in consumption and lifestyle
As the saying goes, each era has its way of living — just as people decades ago could hardly understand marathon running, today it has become one of the popular sports.People’s views about things around them are constantly changing, including their understanding of cars, brands, and lifestyles. In other words, car brands are evolving from mere transportation brands into lifestyle brands.In the past, buyers cared most about engines, transmissions, and fuel consumption. Today they consider more than that: intelligence, tech feel, design, and lifestyle, because a car becomes part of many people’s lives rather than just a vehicle.The relationship is like when people held Nokia phones thirty years ago — it was hard to imagine a smartphone would, beyond communication, completely change every aspect of life.So, NEV brands are essentially selling the lifestyle they promote, and for many people marathon running is also a lifestyle,the two can seamlessly combine under shared ideas like “health, green, and environmental protection”making it easier to find common ground.People used to view cars as assets; today most are likely to see cars as consumption items, especially new-energy vehicles.Where once a Nokia could be passed down for three generations, it's now rare for a smartphone to last three years — that shift in mindset is changing consumer behavior. Replacing a car is no longer a decision made once every decade; in a few years people may already have upgraded their new-energy vehicles multiple times. In that context, the marathon scene is undeniably an excellent point of connection.Zeekr
What qualities of the Shanghai Marathon did they value?
You can be sure Zeekr paid big to secure the honor of sponsoring the Shanghai Marathon, and the reason it was willing to pay is that it valuedthe huge influence behind the Shanghai Marathon.。After 30 years of staging, the Shanghai Marathon has long become an important city sports IP for Shanghai. The event itself has long served to showcase Shanghai’s city image. More importantly, the Shanghai Marathon is a standardized, visibly promising prospect,and the 2027 Shanghai Marathon is very likely to be the country's first World Marathon Major event., and this ambition was even explicitly proposed by the Shanghai municipal government in its 2026 event-economy plan topromote.。The Shanghai Marathon’s annual buzz and popularity are unmatched by most sports IPs,with over 380,000 full-marathon registrations — the largest in the country.A 6% ballot acceptance rate only confirms the Shanghai Marathon’s unparalleled ability to attract attention. For runners, it’s a course rich in atmosphere; for brands, it’s a huge pool for generating promotional content and materials.From Zeekr’s perspective,it’s actually also about sales.According to city sales data for the first half of 2026, Shanghai did not rank first — it was behind Hangzhou — and the top five also include Beijing, Shenzhen and Ningbo. Obviously, Zeekr’s choice of the Shanghai Marathon is essentially about its owncore sales marketfor brand marketing, while also hoping to further deepen its market presence on Shanghai soil.Zeekr places particular value on Shanghai’s international character: wanting to run from a “Chinese new-energy vehicle brand” to a “global high-end smart electric vehicle brand,” the Shanghai Marathon may be the perfect springboard.Did you know Vietnamese EV brand VINFAST once sponsored the IRONMAN World Championship for three years?Will BYD sponsor the Berlin Marathon? BYD has already been the title sponsor of many HYROX events, and will we see a Xiaomi Off-Road Challenge?
