The inside story on premium EV challenger Zeekr

Launched just over two years ago in China, the Zeekr brand has sold more than 240,000 cars and now boasts a somewhat eclectic four-model EV line-up.

Topping the range for now is the rather imposing Zeekr 009 electric people-mover, which comes in six-, seven- and now four-seat uber-luxury Grand variants, while at the bottom of the line-up is the Zeekr X – an angular small fastback SUV that’s fractionally larger than the Volvo EX30 with which it shares its platform.

It is these two models that will launch the premium Chinese EV brand’s entry into the Australian market in the second half of this year.

Elsewhere, the brand’s first and best-selling model, the Zeekr 001 shooting brake launched in 2022, sits alongside an all-new Toyota Corolla-size small sedan, the Zeekr 007 – the first model to wear its maker’s unique new family look.

The first cars in the Zeekr range were conceived as Lynk & Co models before parent company Geely Auto decided to make Zeekr an EV-only brand with the flagship 001, hence the brand’s first models bear family traits from a former life.

With the 007, Zeekr has stretched its legs and showcased something of an automotive first with a full-width digital lightbar-cum-screen that enables you to create your own face for the car, be that text or a custom design.

All in all it’s a bold range of models, and to tell us more about them ahead of Zeekr’s Australian arrival later this year we sat down with former Bentley design boss and now vice-president of Global Design at Geely Auto Group, Stefan Sielaff.

Sielaff is based at Geely’s global design hub in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he oversees a team of over 2000 people from more than 30 countries.

No fewer than 500 of these work for Zeekr, for which they design the cars, the software and even the brand imagery that underpins each marketing campaign.

This global footprint is something that sets Zeekr apart from most other Chinese EV start-ups, along with an attention to detail rarely seen in anything less than a Rolls-Royce.

Sielaff sees craftsmanship as “something you give to the customer that enables them to see how much human heart blood” goes into the execution of their cars.

Zeekr wants customers to feel that its vehicles are “not just done by artificial intelligence and then by some robot in the factory, but… by human beings and the individual characters in the studio.”

This manifests itself in details across the range, whether that be the beautifully trimmed grab handles and sunglasses holder in the X, or the rippled bodywork underneath the 007’s rear lightbar that creates a wavelike reflection on the surface.

Design elements like these help elevate Zeekr vehicles from the cookie-cutter designs often employed by other brands into something that feels quite special – a key point for Sielaff following criticism of design similarities between models created during his time at Audi.

“At Zeekr, we are giving more focus to the product personality,” he said, adding that “in a real family no person looks exactly the same – every person looks different, each has his or her own character.”

Our Zeekr tour started in an impressively modern, glass-fronted dealership at the base of the world’s third-tallest building, the Shanghai Tower. It’s in areas like this, at the heart of throbbing business and shopping districts, that electric car brands in China showcase their latest models to aspiring customers.

It’s the 009 that takes our attention for the next leg of the journey as we head to the launch of the Grand Edition, a four-seat version of the big electric people-mover targeted at wealthy businessmen who fancy the splendour of advanced design and high-tech gadgets in the back of their mobile lounge.

These include a huge 43-inch TV, 30-speaker sound system, real granite inlays and 24-way power-adjustable rear seats with seven heated zones and 20-point massage function, among many other treats.

The event itself is pretty extravagant for a niche car with an audience of around 2000 media, influencers and customers gathering for a dazzling laser-studded presentation in seemingly brand-new ancient-style exhibition halls in one of China’s ancient water towns.

It’s big in the way of ambition too. To demonstrate its ride quality, the 009 is subjected to a bumpy surface test alongside the most expensive people-mover sold in China, the Lexus LM, and even the Rolls-Royce Cullinan to show how much whisky stays in a glass in the rear cup-holder.

Suffice to say, the 009 far outperformed the LM and was pretty much on par with the Cullinan, despite the fact it costs around 25-50 per cent less than either model.

This version of the 009 may not make it to Australia, but the demonstration neatly encapsulates the brand’s premium positioning and helps us identify the kind of audience that Zeekr will attempt to target here in Australia.

Indeed, in a conversation with vice-president of Zeekr International, Mars Chen, we learn that in China, Zeekr customers are mostly defecting from Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW.

But upstart EV-makers – particularly those from China – face an uphill battle against brands with considerably more heritage. Convincing would-be buyers will come down to demonstrating the brand’s engineering and manufacturing credentials, and here Zeekr clearly has something going for it.

As part of the Geely Group, Zeekr is part of a stable boasting established names like Volvo and Lotus – as well as Polestar, which itself didn’t exist until just a few years ago but has gained quite a respectable following on the back of the excellent Polestar 2.

All Zeekrs sit atop various sizes of the SEA dedicated EV platform – the same chassis that underpins the new Volvo EX30 and upcoming Polestar 4, plus the Smart #1 and #3 electric SUVs also coming here later this year.

It was developed by a team under former Volvo and Saab engineer, Kent Bovellan, and while none of the larger SEA-platformed models have faced Euro NCAP scrutiny yet, the smaller edition has achieved twin five-star scores with both Smarts.

So we then look at engineering and, as we found during a behind-the-scenes tour of Zeekr’s smart factory in Ningbo, automation and attention to detail have reached the next level in China.

In the Zeekr 001 manufacturing hall alone, almost 100 5G-connected robots work away with barely a human interaction in sight, welding together chassis with millimetre precision as floor robots deliver parts to the line while deftly avoiding all obstacles such as human tourists like ourselves.

By the end of the line, no fewer than six different cars from four different brands with four different body styles were making their way to final inspection all on the same line, each car tracked via the Internet of Things the entire way, and assessed by AI at several stages to identify any defects en route.

One might suspect it’s engineering accuracy like this that has enabled Zeekr to achieve a clean sheet in terms of battery fires in their cars.

We then took to the Ningbo International Race Circuit to assess each Zeekr model at its limits and see how the SEA platform fares.

Starting with the Zeekr X, which carsales reviewed in mid-2023, we worked our way up through the 009 to the updated 001 in single- and dual-motor form, and the recently launched 007.

The X very much proved its more urban credentials, with soft suspension and light steering that’s clearly geared more towards city driving. Nevertheless, it was every bit as quick as its 3.7sec 0-100km/h sprint time suggests.

The 009, coming in at just under three tonnes, was the surprise package, defying its waterbed-like on-road comfort to prove surprisingly agile on track. Dual motors punching out a ludicrous 400kW made it delightfully quick, and we’ll publish a full review of the 009 soon.

Neither the 001 nor 007 are confirmed for Australia yet, but first impressions of the 007 are that it’s a car that delivers quite astounding pace (0-100km/h in a claimed 2.84sec from a rolling start) as well as offering good balance and polite manners with fairly light steering and good road-holding abilities.

The 001, however, is quite a different animal. In both single- and dual-motor forms, it’s preposterously quick and the most dynamically adept of the range with a beautifully balanced chassis, weightier steering and outstanding stability, albeit with a greater tendency towards oversteer in the rear-wheel drive version.

And it’s a very attractive car – one that looks every bit the autobahn fast-lane cruiser, with plenty of space and a sumptuous interior boasting premium materials.

On the evening of the final day, we sat down with Mars Chen to discuss exactly how Zeekr hopes to fare in the Australian market.

Aware of the scale of the task ahead of the company, Mars talks about the need to be humble when approaching a new market but you can’t help feeling there’s a quiet confidence underneath.

Zeekr appears to have the product attributes and quality it needs to be a thorn in the side of established premium brands, but with the X and 009 – two EVs at opposite ends of the automotive spectrum – its first foray will likely focus on building awareness and getting bums on seats.

But what’s certain is that both Zeekr models will turn heads for all the right reasons.

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