Test Car Specifications
Model: 2024 Zeekr X Privilege AWD
Price: tbc
Motor: 315kW twin electric motors
Battery: 69kWh lithium-ion
Transmission: single-speed reduction-gear automatic, all-wheel drive
Power: 428hp
Torque: 543Nm
Emissions: 0g/km
Economy: 3.5 miles/kWh
Range: 264 miles
0-62mph: 3.8 seconds
Top speed: 112mph
Boot space: 362 litres
Styling
All at once rather eye-catching, given the sheer novelty factor of being only the second product from a heretofore nigh-on unknown manufacturer, and yet at the same time not massively visually memorable, the appearance of the Zeekr X is surely going to be polarising. Maybe the carmaker could have been more adventurous with the design of this car, given the Tesla-Model-Y-and-co opposition it faces are showroom juggernauts and it's a total newbie, but we're not against the look of the X. It has some neat touches, like that diagonal swage line running up the doors and into the rear window line, and its recessed door handles which pop inwards when you need to access the car, and the lamp clusters which look like the jagged line which bisects Zeekr's rectangular logo, and even the white-illuminated 'Zeekr' emblem embedded just below the rear wiper - so that the overall effect of the car is certainly intriguing.
Single-motor models roll on 19-inch wheels, while the dual-motor AWD we're testing here gain 20s for their troubles, but after you've drunk in the main aesthetic talking points - including a little digital screen on the B-pillar, which tells the driver about charging times when the car's hooked up to the mains, and pedestrians/police not to smash all the windows if they see a dog in the car on a hot day, as the X has a Pet Mode and a concomitant little dog graphic on said screen to explain this fact - there's a nagging feeling that the Zeekr's exterior form is somewhat generic. It doesn't help that the company only offers the SUV in four colours, and aside from one tasteful metallic green the others are all monochrome. Including one beige. Beige!
Interior
There's no such non-committal vacillation when it comes to assessing the Zeekr X's interior - this is excellent. OK, there are one or two ergonomic foibles to discuss, which is to be expected of such a young manufacturer just starting out in the business. So while the 14.6-inch central touchscreen is nice to look at and reasonably quick to respond to haptic inputs, the layout of its menus takes a fair degree of familiarisation in order for you to become au fait with it. Ditto the joysticks on the steering wheel, through which you adjust the mirrors and the augmented-reality head-up display (AR-HUD) of the X... once you've tapped on the central screen to access these functions, that is. And the window switches, in the way they're sited and presented, feel like they've been installed the wrong way round.
But these are minor bugbears, when compared to the standard of interior finishing in here. Try as you might, you simply won't find a cheap plastic anywhere significant and the quality levels do not diminish in the slightest as you climb into the second row of seats. If anything, the elegantly detailed backs of the front seats are more pleasing to look at than the somewhat plain main fascia design, so you might prefer to sit in the back - this being a hint to social norms in the Zeekr's homeland of China, where it's considered prestigious for passengers to be seated in the rear of a car rather than the front. Good news for vegans, too; despite the superb cushioning of the apparently leather seats, no animals were harmed during the making of this motion picture... sorry, we mean, vehicle.
Oh, and for fun - like the Tesla whoopie cushion feature - the interior cameras of the X can take photos of you in the car and store them in its system, if you like, while an external loudspeaker can make the SUV meow, bark, neigh or oink, or make assorted other animal and car noises, while the Zeekr is at a standstill. You can even record a message of your choosing in your own voice, then get the X to 'shout' it at passers-by in either a 'Deep' or a 'Clear' timbre of your no-doubt dulcet tones. The possibilities for abuse of this particular function just don't bear thinking about...
Practicality
A slightly less glowing report for the Zeekr X here, as the SUV is OK, but not spectacular on this score. Its case was harmed by the 001 shooting brake (it's a big hatchback, really) being available to drive on the same launch event. Now that thing is absolutely cavernous in the back, whereas the Zeekr X... isn't, so much. An unfair comparison, between a large luxury hatch likely to cost £60 grand-plus and a compact SUV that's probably going to be £15,000 cheaper? Yep, it is, but with its flat-floored SEA platform chassis, we were perhaps expecting more from the Chinese EV. Also, the Zeekr X doesn't feel as accommodating in terms of leg- and headroom in the back as some of its obvious premium electric SUV rivals.
The boot's also only marginally bigger than what you'd find on much smaller EVs, like the Fiat 600e, as it tots up to 362 litres with all seats in play. But that black-and-white printed figure doesn't articulate the Zeekr's high boot floor and loading lip, and the rather narrow aperture of its tailgate when it's open, which will make hefting large items into the rear of the SUV something of a faff. Also, up front, there's no glovebox. At all. That side of the dash is just a large, blanked-off expanse of non-leather.
Performance
Trying not to reference Tesla too much, as it'll probably annoy Zeekr, there's an eerie familiarity to the range structure of the X, if you take the Model Y as a yardstick to compare it to. There are two models of the Zeekr, both using a 69kWh (gross) battery and capable of charging at 150kW on the DC rapid units, and 22kW AC with a home wallbox. The Long Range RWD, as its name suggests, has one 200kW (272hp) electric motor on its rear axle, delivering 343Nm. A reasonably commendable kerb weight of 1,855kg (light, for a premium EV like this) means the Zeekr X RWD converts these outputs into a brisk 5.6-second 0-62mph time, while going up to 276 miles on a single charge of its battery.
If you can sacrifice a claimed 12 miles of outright range, though, we'd recommend going for this Privilege AWD instead. Its twin-motor set-up places a propulsion unit on each axle, ramping up the numbers to 315kW (428hp) and 543Nm. That slashes the 0-62mph time to 3.8 seconds, courtesy of its brutal off-the-line traction advantages - and despite the fact its mass goes close to the two-tonne mark.
And the Zeekr X AWD feels every bit as strong as those on-paper figures hint at. It whoops off towards the horizon with real vigour if you open the taps fully in its sportiest setting, yet it's the smooth modulation of the throttle which impresses most. It never feels fluffy or vague, even in its most eco mode, and it's a doddle to carefully dole out the SUV's power reserves if you're just ambling around town. So in terms of its motive power, it's a big tick for the Zeekr.
Ride & Handling
This is probably the area where the Zeekr X displays the rougher edges of its engineering make-up most overtly. But not in terms of ride quality; no, despite the 20-inch wheels, the softly sprung SUV has incredibly impressive refinement and rolling comfort. It's as good edging about at very low velocity in urban areas on broken tarmac as it is smoothing out high-speed undulations on a remote country road, so for its primary purpose as this 'urban luxury compact' we keep hearing about then it's bang on the money. That, alone, will be enough to convince many people to take the plunge on this automotive novelty.
There's something else that Zeekr deserves the highest praise for, which is its steering. So many EV manufacturers, including those that have a long history of building more traditional internal-combustion engine (ICE) performance cars for keen drivers, manage to get the weighting and feedback of their electric cars' steering systems wrong. Not Zeekr. Through its three modes, there's real difference to be felt to each setting and in the most dynamic option, the X's steering is little short of a delight to use. It's no 'Chinese Porsche', granted, but you'll be surprised just how good the Zeekr's steering system feels through the rim of that two-spoke wheel.
The issues are more to do with the brakes and the suspension. The former of these is a somewhat minor gripe, as the pedal feel is a bit odd as it works through the first section of travel and regeneration is in action - and, on that note, despite professing to have a 'one-pedal' driving function, the Zeekr's braking system never slows the car down quite as much as you want it to when you lift off the throttle, so you'll be using the brake pedal more than in similar EVs.
The suspension, though, is more of a concern. Body lean is quite pronounced in corners, thanks to the squidginess of the Zeekr's chassis settings, and when the springs and dampers get to the top of their travel then they run out of ideas, allowing the shell of the X to bobble about weirdly on its underpinnings. This occurred when we weren't fully 'on it' in the Zeekr SUV, instead manifesting after a compacted series of bumps clothing a mid-speed bend. It made the car feel woolly and disconnected from the road, and that translates into handling manners that aren't massively rewarding. Basically, what we're saying is that despite its ridiculous straight-line speed, the Zeekr X AWD is a car you won't particularly want to drive that fast once the corners come.
Value
At this stage, we can't say a lot, because the Zeekr isn't on sale in the UK yet. Nor will it be for a while, as the company grapples with getting right-hand-drive models ready not just for this market, but other important RHD territories like Japan, Australia and South Africa. In fact, Zeekr currently only sells its cars in two European countries - which are Sweden, due to the Geely/Volvo link, and the Netherlands, presumably due to its early adoption of EV tech - but it is planning to expand "into every major western European market by 2026". So we should see the X here, hopefully sooner rather than later in that three-year timeframe, but the good news is that where it is on sale, it is extremely competitively priced in relation to its key rivals, and it comes with a wealth of kit for that money as well. The company also talks about a potential ten-year, 125,000-mile warranty, as long as you service the SUV within Zeekr's approved network, so if the value-for-money aspect of it as a left-hand-drive car can be preserved for the transition over here, the X could definitely bloody a few of the premium elite EVs' noses.
Verdict
Accepting that there are one or two areas where the Zeekr X shows up its greenness - and we don't mean that in the environmental sense, but rather in terms of the inexperience of its parent company - the overall package is one that is nevertheless deeply, deeply impressive. The interior quality alone will win the X many fans, while the sheer performance of the dual-motor model is as ultra-rapid and urgent as people expect these days of upmarket EVs. You're probably still going to be better off with a Volvo EX30 or a Mercedes EQA or the like, but the gap between these products from long-established manufacturers and what is, in essence, a Chinese whippersnapper's near-first effort is far narrower than you could possibly imagine. This Zeekr X is a very good electric SUV indeed.
