Whilst it may be electric and named simply ‘X’, Elon Musk has nothing to do with the latest electric vehicle company to enter the Australian Market.
Zeekr is a car company most Australians have never heard of, but from 2024, you can expect to be seeing them a hell of a lot more. Founded in 2021 and part of the Geely Global automotive megacorporation, Zeekr have officially announced their entry into the Australian market with their midsize, reasonably priced ‘X’, and later this year, the people moving MPV and James Bond colleague – the 009.
The ‘X’ is designed with a focus on quality, rather than quantity. Designed in Gothenburg Sweden and assembled by Geely in China, The ‘X’ will be built upon the same platform as the Volvo EX30. Of course, the body and interior have been completely designed from the ground up. With a sleek, stylish body available in five colours: Crystal White, Pine Green, Mist Grey, Grid Grey, and Palace beige, modern contemporary styling, a spacious and comfortable interior with fully electric seats, and large, stylish 20” wheels with space-age ‘self healing tyres’!
Reminiscent of ‘2001, a Space Odyssey’, the ‘X’ has cutting edge voice controls, which to my surprise, work fantastically well and respond promptly to what the user is saying. You’ll find more cutting edge tech inside, with three digital displays at the helm, including a 23.4” Central screen, 8.8” cluster and 14.6” infotainment screen. And of course, the ‘X’ will work with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
The ‘X’ won’t need to visit the dealership very often, providing you can find a dealership to visit. The ‘X’ will come with a five year unlimited kilometre warranty, and will need to be checked over every two years or 40,000 kilometres. Only nine Zeekr dealerships will be coming to Australia by the end of 2024. It has been made clear that Zeekr wants to remain completely independent from the rest of the Geely family, and will not be involved in partnered dealerships at this stage.
Both variants of the ‘X’ are priced highly competitively and have a major party trick up their sleeve: A charge time from 10% to 80% in just 30 minutes on 150kW DC power. The rear wheel drive only ‘X’ variant will cost under $60,000 AUD before on-road costs, and the flagship AWD variant, will cost under $70,000 AUD before on-road costs. This places the Zeekr amongst rivals such as the Hyundai Kona EV and IONIC 5, Kia EV5, and of course, the Volvo EX30.
Moving on to the powerplant, the ‘X’ certainly has European levels of performance to back up its European styling. The base model rear wheel drive only car still packs a 200 kW and 343 Nm punch, with a quoted range of up to 540 kilometres. The AWD ‘X’ has a little bit more power, 315 kW to be exact. Pair that with 543 Nm of torque and you get a Swedish art exhibit with wheels doing 0-100km/hr in 3.8 seconds.
Zeekr has made it clear that the ‘X’ will be an all rounder. Ryan Collins, the National Retail Sales Manager for Zeekr Australia, described the ‘X’ as “an urban navigator… with agile handling and world leading safety”. Clearly then, the ‘X’ is seen to be the next big thing for the average family with two and a half children. It’s safe too: Although we don’t have an ANCAP safety rating just yet (although Zeekr has told us they hope to get one soon), the ‘X’ does have a five star Euro NCAP safety rating thanks to seven airbags and reinforced anti-collision beams, which are able to “withstand a lateral impact force of 65 tons”.
