What's all this about?

We’ll be with you in a moment, just after we’ve finished humming along to the Monkees… After all, they Zeek him there, they Zeek him there… Anyway, this is a new Chinese compact SUV from a company called Zeekr, which is not a spelling mistake, whatever it might look like. More specifically, this is the Zeekr X Urban Compact Luxury SUV, and it has more in common with the cars you know and love than you might think.

How so?

Well, Zeekr is part of the massive Geely Group, which means that this Zeekr X has some DNA from various Volvo, Polestar, and even London Electric Vehicle Company (the people behind the electric London taxi) models in its makeup. It’s a compact crossover with a 69kWh battery and as much as 428hp if you go for the top-spec model.

Crikeu! Fast, is it?

Yup, that’s enough to hit 62mph in just 3.8 seconds. Not bad for a family-friendly crossover. Pass the sickbags…

What about the more normal version?

That will have a single motor with rear-wheel drive and a range of up to 275 miles. Not the rangiest EV you’ll find, then, but then it is aimed more at urban driving. Hence the name. It can fast-charge at up to 150kW, and better yet it has 22kW AC charging power, so you can make the best possible use of medium-speed kerbside chargers. Zeekr reckons that on DC power the battery — supplied by Chinese giant CATL — can charge from 0-80 per cent in less than 30 minutes, and Zeekr’s partnering with Plugsurfing to provide customers with a one-for-all charging card. The battery also gets an eight-year, 120,000-mile warranty.

What about the interior?

Zeekr is leaning into both sustainability and tech for the X’s cabin, so there’s lots of perforated PU ‘vegan’ leather, as well as built-in 5G connectivity. Those seats can be fitted with a massaging function, and the priciest version — called Privilege — gets a 13-speaker sound system designed by Yamaha.

I assume that’s the division of Yamaha that makes concert pianos, rather than motorbikes?

Presumably, although a motorbike soundtrack might be fun... The Zeekr X is also claimed to be pretty spacious inside for what’s quite a compact car (4.4-metres long) and there are some neat touches, such as fold-flush door handles that help to bring the car’s coefficient of drag down to just 0.28Cd.

What about the tech?

Well, aside from the Yamaha sound system and the 5G bit, there’s a massive 14.6-inch touchscreen in the centre of the cabin, plus an 8.8-inch digitial instrument cluster and a heads-up display that projects an image onto the windscreen that’s a full 24-inches across. All of this is powered by a Qualcomm 8155 chip, which allows for ‘natural speech’ voice commands.

There’s going to be some weird stuff, isn’t there?

Ummm, yes. A bit. For example, when you’re parked up — such as when charging — the seats will adjust themselves automatically into Theatre Mode, which Zeekr says is “the ideal position for enjoying music.” More helpfully, there’s a Pet Mode, in which the climate control system maintains the cabin at an optimal temperature, and the touchscreen displays a message to inform and reassure passers by the pets locked inside are comfortable and safe. There’s also a Life Detection system, which is designed to protect children or pets left behind inside the locked by mistake. Should this happen, the system will alert the driver by displaying a warning in the display screen in the B-pillar.

There’s a screen in the B-pillar?!

There certainly is. There’s also a surround camera system that keeps an eye on whatever’s going on around the car when it’s parked up, and a full suite of electronic safety aids, including Adaptive Cruise Control, Highway Assist, Front and Rear Collision Mitigation Support, Lane Keep Assist, Evasive Manoeuvre Assist, Front and Rear Cross Traffic Alert, and Door Open Warning.

When can I buy one in the UK?

That’s still TBC. For now, the Zeekr X will only be going on sale in The Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden, priced at €44,990 — which should give a reasonable signpost to any potential UK pricing. It seems likely that Zeekr will start selling in the UK by 2024, but that’s still not guaranteed.

Neil Briscoe - 21 Sep 2023