Finance options¶

Last checked: 8 November 2026.

The main ways to pay for a Zeekr in Australia are cash, a novated lease (salary packaging), a car loan, or a chattel mortgage for business use. This page is general information, not financial advice.

Payment options¶

Cash¶

No interest or fees, and the car is yours outright. The trade-off is the large upfront amount and the money you could have used elsewhere.

Novated lease (salary packaging)¶

Your employer pays the lease and running costs from your pre-tax salary. See Novated leases below for how it works, the rule changes from April 2027 and what to ask.

Car loan¶

Available to anyone, paid from after-tax income, with the car as security until it's paid off. Compare fixed and variable rates, fees and any early repayment penalties.

Chattel mortgage¶

Business finance where the business owns the car from day one. Interest and depreciation may be deductible for business use. Talk to your accountant.

Novated leases¶

This is general information, not financial advice. For your situation, talk to a registered tax agent or financial adviser, and your employer's payroll team.

How a novated lease works¶

A novated lease is a three-way agreement between you, your employer and a lease provider. The provider finances the car, and your employer pays the repayments and running costs from your salary before income tax comes off. You stay responsible for the car. If you change jobs the lease only moves across if the new employer agrees to take it on.

• Pre-tax deductions. Lease payments and bundled running costs (registration, insurance, servicing, tyres, charging) come out of pre-tax pay, which lowers your taxable income.
• GST. The ATO caps the GST credit on buying a car at one-eleventh of the "car limit", which is $6,353 for 2026-27 (car limit $69,883). That cap applies even to fuel-efficient cars. The credit on lease payments and on running costs is not capped like this⁸⁹. Your employer or provider claims the credit, so whether the saving reaches you depends on how they pass it on. Ask them in writing¹⁰.
• EV FBT exemption. Fringe benefits tax (FBT) normally applies to a car your employer makes available for private use. Private use of a battery electric (or hydrogen) car is exempt if the car was first held and used on or after 1 July 2022, is used by a current employee or their family, and no luxury car tax (LCT) has become payable on it. Plug-in hybrids lost the exemption from 1 April 2025 unless they were already exempt and under a binding commitment. Car expenses provided with an exempt car (registration, insurance, servicing, charging) are also exempt. A home charging station is not¹¹. LCT generally becomes payable when the car is above the fuel-efficient LCT threshold, which is $91,661 for 2026-27³.

• Reportable fringe benefits (the catch). An exempt EV is still reportable. Your employer works out the car's taxable value as if FBT applied, grosses it up, and reports it on your income statement once the total passes $2,000 in the FBT year. Expenses such as insurance, servicing and charging are not included in that amount¹¹¹². You do not pay income tax on it, and it does not change your standard Medicare levy. It is added to your income for these tests¹³:

  • the Medicare levy surcharge, and the private health insurance rebate
  • HELP, VET Student Loans and similar compulsory repayments
  • family assistance payments such as Family Tax Benefit and Child Care Subsidy
  • child support obligations
  • Division 293 tax, the super co-contribution and other thresholds listed by the ATO

  For a HELP debt, the ATO's own example adds the reportable amount to taxable income, which can lift your repayment rate¹³. Ask your payroll team for the estimated figure before you sign. - Post-tax contribution (employee contribution method). On a petrol car, a post-tax contribution is used to cut the car's taxable value, often to nil, so your employer pays no FBT. On an exempt EV there is no FBT to cut, so the contribution has no FBT job to do. Its only effect is that genuine payments you make from after-tax money are treated as a "recipient contribution" and reduce the taxable value used for the reportable amount. Expenses reimbursed through salary sacrifice are not recipient contributions and do not reduce it¹¹¹⁴. If a quote on an eligible EV asks for a large post-tax contribution, ask what it is for. After April 2027 it may matter again for cars in the 25% discount band, because FBT will then be payable (see below). - Residual (balloon). The lease ends with a final payment set as a percentage of the car's cost. The ATO's minimum residuals for a car (8-year effective life) are 65.63% after 1 year, 56.25% (2), 46.88% (3), 37.5% (4) and 28.13% (5)¹⁵. The ATO's lease guidance says the residual must not be less than these minimums¹⁶. At the end you pay it, refinance it, or sell the car. Read your contract for who carries any shortfall or keeps any surplus.

Rule changes from 1 April 2027¶

The Government announced phased changes on 5 May 2026. The measure is in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 4) Bill 2026 (Schedule 5), and the second reading speech was given on 27 October 2026¹⁹²⁰. As announced:

What the sources support on timing and grandfathering:

• The ATO says existing leases won't be affected, and the Treasurer says eligible cars keep the FBT treatment in place when the last relevant commitment began¹⁹²⁰.
• The draft treats a "commitment" as financially binding and not able to be backed out of, so the test is when you are locked in, not delivery. A refinance or a change of employer counts as a new commitment²¹²².
• The concession works through the statutory formula method. There is no concession if the operating cost method is used²².

Is it right for you? A checklist¶

Work through these before you ask for a quote.

1. Income and tax bracket. The saving comes from tax you do not pay on the pre-tax amount, so it grows with your marginal rate. At lower incomes it can be small or negative once fees are counted.
2. How long you will keep the car. Leaving early can mean paying out the balance, with resale value deciding who wins or loses. Short terms have high residuals.
3. Kilometres per year. High kilometres lower resale value, which matters when the residual is fixed at the start.
4. Job stability. If you leave, the lease moves only if a new employer agrees, which the draft law treats as a new commitment²². Otherwise you pay out the balance or switch to a personal arrangement. Ask the provider what that costs. Redundancy is the risky case.
5. Provider fees and interest rate. A "tax saving" headline can hide a high effective rate. Ask for the effective interest rate and compare it with a car loan quote.
6. Running-cost budgets. You fund insurance, servicing, tyres and registration up front. Compare each line with a quote you get yourself, and ask what happens to unspent money.
7. Reportable fringe benefits. Check the grossed-up amount against your own situation: HELP, Medicare levy surcharge, family assistance, child support¹³.
8. Borrowing capacity. Lenders may treat the lease and its residual as a commitment. Ask your broker.
9. Price thresholds. See the table below. Your grade, your options and your commitment date all matter.

Questions to ask a provider¶

• What is the total cost over the term, including all fees, and what is the effective interest rate?
• What are the establishment, monthly and termination fees?
• What is the residual percentage, and how is it paid or refinanced at the end?
• What is in the running-cost budget, how was each figure set, and what happens to unspent money?
• Does my employer pass on the GST credits, and is that in writing?
• If there is a charging allowance, is it at 5.47 cents per km for 2026-27, and does it need records?
• What is my estimated reportable fringe benefits amount?
• What happens if I resign, am made redundant, or the employer stops offering packaging?
• Can I choose my own dealer, insurer and servicing?
• Which price are you using for the FBT thresholds, and on what date am I "committed"?
• Do I have to make a post-tax contribution, and why?
• Will the quote be re-run if the delivery date moves?

Red flags¶

• A running-cost budget well above what you would pay yourself for insurance or servicing.
• High establishment or monthly fees that are bundled and not itemised.
• A residual below the ATO minimum, or well above it, without explanation.
• A quote that shows only the fortnightly saving and not the total cost of finance.
• Pressure to sign before 1 April 2027 without a written explanation of how "commitment" is defined.
• A post-tax contribution on an eligible EV with no reason given.
• Refusal to give a written comparison with a car loan.

Do the maths¶

Collect these first: the drive-away price and options, your gross income, the lease term, kilometres per year, and the provider's quote with its fees, interest rate, residual and running-cost budget. A calculator uses its own assumptions and is a rough guide. A quote is the real number.

Check the calculator's financial year and tax settings before trusting the result. Tax brackets, the LCT threshold, the charging rate and FBT rules all change in 2026-27 and 2027-28.

We found no maintained novated lease calculator or wiki explainer on Whirlpool. Its electric vehicle wiki page is an index of forum threads, including "Electric Car on Novated Lease"²⁸. That is owner opinion, not a calculator. Treat anything quoted in forums as a lead to check against the ATO and your quote.

Where the Zeekr models sit¶

LCT threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles, 2026-27: $91,661³. $75,000 is the 100% discount line proposed from 1 April 2027¹⁹. Prices are before on-road costs unless stated.

Notes:

• The MY27 Black Edition Package for the 7X Performance AWD has no announced price at the time of writing. Add its price to $72,900 before assuming it stays under $75,000. That leaves $2,100 of headroom.
• Options, dealer delivery and accessories can push a car over a line. Today the exemption turns on whether LCT became payable. From April 2027 the draft turns on base value (see above).
• On the 2026-27 car limit of $69,883, the 7X Performance AWD at $72,900 is over the GST credit cap, so expect a purchase GST credit of up to $6,353 rather than the full one-eleventh. The 7X RWD and Long Range sit below the limit (our arithmetic, on RRP, which includes GST).
• Prices move. Check the current RRP before relying on this table. Each figure's source and date is in the Sources panel at the end of this page.

Zeekr-specific notes¶

• The standard 7X grades and the X sit under both the $75,000 and LCT lines on RRP. The Black Special Edition is the one to question⁴⁵⁶.
• The 009 is over the LCT threshold, so a novated lease on it gets no EV FBT exemption⁷³.
• For any Zeekr, ask the dealer for the as-configured value in writing before the provider runs its quote.
• Zeekr Australia's warranty is 5 years, unlimited kilometres, and 8 years or 160,000 km on the battery. Warranty servicing follows the Zeekr schedule, so check the interval for your grade (sources conflict for the 7X) and make sure the provider's servicing budget matches what you will pay²⁹.

FBT exemption for EVs¶

Electric vehicles priced under the luxury car tax (LCT) threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles are exempt from fringe benefits tax when provided through an employer, which is what makes novated leasing attractive¹. The exemption for plug-in hybrids ended on 1 April 2025¹.

The LCT threshold¶

Sources:²³.

Which Zeekrs are under it?¶

• 7X: RRPs are $57,900, $63,900 and $72,900 before on-road costs⁴, all under the threshold. The MY26 Black Special Edition was $75,900⁵.
• X (MY26): from $48,900 drive-away for the RWD⁶, under the threshold.
• 009: from $115,900 before on-road costs⁷, over the threshold, so it doesn't qualify.

The test uses the car's value as configured, not just the RRP. Confirm eligibility with your lease provider before signing.

What affects how much you save¶

• Your marginal tax rate
• The car's drive-away price
• Which running costs are in the lease
• The lease term and residual value

Ask for a full quote from more than one provider and compare the total cost, not just the fortnightly payment.

Questions to ask any lender¶

• What's the comparison rate, and is it fixed or variable?
• What fees apply (application, monthly, early repayment, missed payment)?
• Can I make extra repayments without penalty?
• Is there a balloon payment?

State incentives¶

State incentives have mostly ended and change often. See your state on the Resources by state page.

Get advice¶

This page is general information only. For your situation, talk to a licensed financial adviser, a registered tax agent, or your employer's payroll or HR team for salary packaging.