Chinese EV company Zeekr says the price of its new compact luxury Zeekr X electric SUV will start below $60,000 before on-road costs for base rear-wheel drive variants and below $70,000 plus on-roads for dual-motor all-wheel drive variants.
The X is the first EV offered in Australia by Zeekr, which is a newly emerging brand owned by Geely – whose umbrella includes Polestar, Volvo and Smart – and is the first of three electric offerings to be made by Zeekr. The 009 people mover is due later this year and a mid sized SUV called the 7X is due in 2025.
The X was officially launched in Sydney on Thursday and offered media a chance to take a closer look at the vehicle which will go sale in September, with deliveries starting in October.
Both variants of the X utilise the same 66 kWh usable NMC battery manufactured by CATL, offering up to 446 km WLTP driving range in the RWD and 425 km for the AWD variant. Maximum 150 kW DC fast charging speed replenishes the battery from 10-80 % in 30 minutes.
Rear-wheel drive Zeekr X variants can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 5.6 seconds using their 200 kW/343 Nm powertrain, while the all-wheel drive features a combined 315 kW/543 Nm dual-motor setup that hits 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds.
The Zeekr X is built on parent company Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform, shared with other EVs under the Geely umbrella including the Volvo EX30, Polestar 4, Smart #1 and #3. Size wise, the Zeekr X is slightly larger than a Volvo EX30, measuring 4432 mm long, 2025 mm wide, 1566 mm high with a 2750 mm wheelbase.
The Driven had the opportunity to sit in and experience the Zeekr X, although the cars were not yet registered to drive on the road, so stay tuned for our thoughts on the driving experience in a future article.
First impressions of the vehicle were positive overall. From the outside the Zeekr X is a stylish and sleek looking SUV, with two-tone paintwork, frameless side mirrors and uniquely shaped LED daytime running lights. The interior also feels luxurious with soft, comfortable seats and a minimalist, aesthetically pleasing cabin with rose gold accents.
A central 14.6 inch landscape infotainment screen is paired with a 8.8 inch driver’s display, along with a 23.4 inch augmented reality Heads-Up Display (HUD) for vehicles with that option. The touchscreen felt responsive and seemed intuitive with easy to understand icons and clear text.
Vehicle to load (V2L) supporting up to 3 kW of power will be available on the Zeekr X at launch, although Zeekr representatives could not confirm if vehicle to home (V2H) or vehicle to grid (V2G) will be coming in the future.
The first Zeekr X test drives in Australia will take place during October 2024 at the SXSW Sydney Festival, and customer deliveries should begin during October.
Zeekr will be operating in Australia through a franchised dealer network, initially targeting 9 locations across the country. The Zeekr X comes with a 5 year, unlimited km factory warranty and 8 years or 160,000 km on the high voltage battery pack.
Following closely after the Zeekr X, Zeekr will launch their 009 luxury electric people mover in Australia before the end of this year. Next up is the Zeekr 7X mid-size SUV, due to arrive locally sometime in 2025.
Tim has 20 years experience in the IT industry including 14 years as a network engineer and site reliability engineer at Google Australia. He is an EV and renewable energy enthusiast who is most passionate about helping people understand and adopt these technologies.