It’s very easy to lose track of the sheer weight of Chinese automotive start-ups that are starting to make waves outside of their domestic markets.
BYD is busy trying to out-gun Tesla pretty much everywhere, while Omoda, Leapmotor, Xpeng and Nio have found an audience with European buyers in recent months.
Zeekr is among the latest of a long line and, with the full backing of the Geely Group behind it (owners of Polestar, Volvo and Lotus), introduces another potential thorn in Elon Musk’s side. Scratch that, every automaker’s side.
The Zeekr 7X has arrived to challenge the ultra-competitive, mid-sized SUV market in Europe, taking on the long-established Tesla Model Y, the latest Smart #5 (another Geely brand) and even its distant cousin in the Polestar 4.
But Zeekr wants to be viewed as a premium brand, with design offices in Gothenburg, Sweden taking care of the upmarket styling and the company’s now famous ‘Golden Battery’ technology offering range and charging speeds that are so far unmatched by any competitor.
There’s a Qualcomm 8295 Snapdragon-powered ‘digital cockpit’, an augmented reality head-up display, an in-house developed premium sound system and the required radars and cameras for advanced levels of automated driving.
Throw some incredibly powerful, dual-motor options into the mix and you have the blueprint for Tesla domination. But how does that translate on real roads?
Dressed for success
Considering Zeekr has only just celebrated its fourteenth birthday, it has achieved a massive amount in that short time.
Eight new cars, game-changing battery technology and even a robotic charging concept in its domestic market that sees its vehicles autonomously hunt for a parking space and then receive a charge from fueling ‘bots. It’s mind-boggling really.
The Zeekr 7X certainly feels like it has some serious engineering weight behind it, taking all of the company’s tech and bundling it together in an interior that feels built to take on the likes of Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW in European markets.
In the Privilege all-wheel-drive model I tested, there were powered doors at the front and rear (like a Rolls-Royce), Matrix LED headlights and leather-clad everything.
The in-house developed sound system takes inspiration from premium Bowers & Wilkins units, even down to the dash-mounted tweeter, although Zeekr also offers additional speakers that are mounted in the headrests for truly immersive sound.
Some Chinese rivals I have previously tested look the part, offering large touchscreen displays, but the technology on offer can be clunky to use – particularly in cheaper brands.
Zeekr doesn’t fall foul of the same issue here, with a 16-inch 3.5K mini-LED central display taking care of infotainment duties. It is slick, quick to respond and laid out in a very similar way to Tesla’s, making it nice and intuitive.
Granted, lots of the vehicle’s functionality is mapped to menus and sub-menus and a few more menus after that, but there are at least some physical buttons for important things.
There’s also a 13-inch HD LCD instrument cluster and an augmented reality head-up display that expands to a massive 36.2-inches.
The interior is a lovely place to be, extremely quiet, massively spacious and, arguably most important of all, very comfortable.
It takes Tesla’s approach to sparseness and adds in a few extra layers of premium-ness. You can see the Volvo and Polestar influences throughout.
Charging ahead
Zeekr grabbed headlines recently when it unveiled the fact that its ‘Golden Battery’ technology is capable of charging from 10 to 80 % in just nine minutes and 45 seconds.
Those figures were achieved by tethering the 7X to one of Zeekr’s eye-watering 840kW chargers, but you can expect to achieve the same top-up time in just 13 minutes from a slightly more common 360kW outlet.
This is all thanks to Geely’s 800V SEA platform, which is also used by the Polestar 4 (among others), allowing for an all-electric range of up to 382 miles in the Long Range RWD version.
The vehicle I tested was fitted with the same 100kWh battery, although the more powerful dual motor set-up meant I could only officially manage 337 miles of range on a single charge.
But that’s irrelevant, because efficiency is pretty darned good, with Zeekr claiming 3.4 miles per kWh. During testing, I managed to kill half a day on the mixed roads of Portugal and still arrive back with at least 70% battery remaining.
In fact, it was a tad disappointing, because I wanted to test out the fast charging at a local 360kW outlet, but the glut of remaining range rendered that endeavor pointless. Nice problem to have, eh?
The impressive range is backed up by equally impressive performance stats, with this all-wheel-drive variant capable of hitting 62mph from a standstill in just 3.8 seconds. It’s a mightily powerful beast.
When everything is left in Comfort mode, the 7X is a perfectly agreeable thing to drive, if a little bereft of character… just like a Tesla, then.
Zeekr wanted us to test out this power routing via its native navigation, which is powered by MapBox and hopes to take on native Google systems with its live updates.
Although perfectly useable, it is no way near as intuitive and slick to use as a proper Google system, falling some way behind the experience Tesla has refined over the years.
There’s little in the way of charging stop recommendations or routing parameters that suggest the fastest or most efficient routes, for example. Plus, it just doesn’t look that good either.
Still, Zeekr can also refine this with a few simple updates and there’s full support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, should you wish to use a preferred mapping software.
A real power trip
Thanks to the presence of air suspension, it’s possible to adjust the height of the Zeekr 7X by some 70mm. Its tallest settings are reserved for light off-roading, while the lowest heights help increase aerodynamic efficiency on faster roads.
The Chinese brand offers a dedicated ‘Sports’ mode that unleashes the full power of the dual motor set-up. It is here where the 7X starts to show its dynamic weaknesses.
During testing, the electronic stability control struggled to keep the power in check and, when faced with the extremely enticing curves of Portugal’s former WRC rally stages, the large SUV loved nothing more than understeering – pushing wide into the opposite lane.
Sure, it is hugely powerful and does the classic EV party trick of pinning heads to headrests when the throttle is floored. But that’s really where the fun ends.
There’s not too much feel to the steering and even with the suspension set to its most sporting, the 7X isn’t going to challenge anything from BMW, Porsche or Audi right now.
But that’s the thing, because the Chinese marque was busy vacuuming up feedback from journalists on the launch, so will likely tweak dynamics further over the coming months with over-the-air software updates if it has to.
Plus, does anyone buy a premium SUV to throw it around now defunct rally stages? I don’t think so, and when everything is left in Comfort mode, the 7X is a perfectly agreeable thing to drive, if a little bereft of character… just like a Tesla, then.
Great value but not cheap
Only pricing for Europe has been revealed so far, where the 7X will start from €52,990 and rises to around €70,000 when you specify the most powerful AWD versions with all of the options boxes ticked. That’s around $60,000 / $94,200 to $80,000 / AU$125,000.
Considering the spaciousness, the sheer weight of tech on offer and the fast-charging battery technology, that represents solid value for money, but it isn’t exactly cheap by typical Chinese EV standards.
The asking price puts it directly in the firing line of the Audi Q4 e-tron, the BMW iX3 and the Mercedes-Benz EQE, all of which are from established premium brands that European buyers still flock towards and they all offer more in the driving dynamics department.
The range-topping models also see it compete for Porsche Macan EV budgets, and that is one of the best electric SUVs I have driven in terms of sheer driving thrills on offer. Very little comes close.
But as much as it pains me to type, driving dynamics and bags of character just aren’t at the top of buyer’s requirements these days and this is where a brand like Zeekr can capitalize.
When stood next to the more established rivals, it looks and feels competitive, with an interior fit and finish that puts some premium manufacturers to shame.
Where Chinese EVs once provided a cheaper alternative to the European and North American mainstream, they are now challenging those established brands, offering more for largely the same money.
The Zeekr 7X can park itself, it offers an accomplished infotainment system, the latest adaptive cruise control with automatic lane changing, and a huge amount of interior roominess.
Better still, it has a European headquarters, where designers and engineers are busy tuning the cars for a European audience.
In fact, one engineer told me his team felt much of the Chinese parking technology wasn’t refined enough for European customers, so was holding back until his team was confident it was ready.
Chinese companies like to move at breakneck speed, which can sometimes be to the detriment of quality. But Zeekr is playing the game right, honing its offerings so they can truly compete at a premium level.
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