The Zeekr X got to the party late but it got a lot of things right.
The electric vehicle market is absolutely saturated at the moment. With just over 20,000 local EV sales in 2024 serviced by something like 140 model variants. Needless to say, we’re over-saturated at this point. So what does latecomer Zeekr have that its many competitors lack in the sub-RM200,000 space?
What Is Zeekr?
The Zeekr brand itself is a pretty tough one to unpack. If you want the short version, it’s this – combine the brand value and design know-how of a Scandinavian/European legacy carmaker with the technology, production capabilities and lean business culture of a Chinese start-up. Geely essentially created a bunch of new brands to tackle the many possible paths that the automotive industry might head towards and Zeekr essentially picks up where the failed Lynk & Co venture left off.
The Zeekr X in particular can be summed up thusly – it’s a cousin of the Volvo EX30 and smart #1 / #3. It’s built in the same factory, has the same platform and likely sources many of its components from some of the same suppliers. With fewer mouths to feed, no automotive legacy OEM partnerships to worry about and no brand heritage to protect, Zeekr is able to bring to market the X at a much lower price point than its cousins while still offering enough performance and range to be seen as an alternative.
Design
The thing that sets the Zeekr X apart from its siblings and in fact from all of its competition in the EV space is its design. From every angle, the X is avantgarde – genre-bending in its proportions and style. It’s quite clearly a crossover in its overall silhouette, but there’s nothing SUV-like about the car at all. In fact, the C-pillar and rear quarter evokes the look and feel of a Renault Megane Scenic MPV more than it does any SUV in recent memory. It’s perhaps the Zeekr X’s most iconic and unique angle.
Kudos to the designers for finding a rim design that perfectly complements the angles of the body.
The front end clearly shows its Lynk & Co roots with the hood-mounted mudskipper daytime running lights making way for a more angular and futuristic looking affair – paired with black ‘whiskers’ on the bumper to complete the front lighting graphic.
In some ways the exterior design can be a little divisive but there’s no denying that it looks the part of an upmarket electric crossover. It wouldn’t look out of place at a high end hotel lobby in Europe and that alone should score it high marks.
Before stepping inside, three other aspects of the design are worth noting.
First – the frameless windows add another layer of ‘premium’ to the perception of the X – plus you also have a rather unique set of frameless side mirrors too.
The door handles are also of the retractable slot variety. A little flap mechanically moves out of the way when the car is unlocked (automatic when the key is within a certain proximity of the car). Then you slip you fingers in and a capacitive button unlatches the door. It’s essentially an e-latch and that necessitates the inclusion of emergency door releases in the event of a failure. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the location of these door releases.
Inside the Zeekr X goes for a modern, minimalist inspired interior with a classy colour palette involving light greys, washed-out blues and rose gold. It’s not like anything we’ve seen in recent years and quite honestly we think the ambience it creates in the cabin is very upmarket. Normally, minimalism brings with it a degree of utilitarian thinking behind the cabin. Here, practicality is thrown out of the window in favour of pure style. It may work for the intended audience but many will find the lack of storage spaces and the general claustrophobia a little too much to bear.
Zeekr isn’t afraid to try new things with the limited space that they have to play with. Some of
Some of these are very practical but still feel like they’re compromised due to the space limitations. The large centre storage bin with a retractable cover works, but the low placement of the cup/bottle holders within aren’t in the best spot. There are a few bag hook locations, one in the centre that seems to be meant for small purses and another on the B-pillar for coats or perhaps a tote bag. These may be useful, but there’s just so little room to put anything there. The diagonal seatback pocket is another storage solution that just seems to be too small to be of practical use.
The wireless charging pad features a rubberised bulb on the hidden reverse side and this helps to keep your phone in place. This innovation we found pretty good and it’s a 50W charger as well, which is about as fast as you’ll ever need. An interest area where Zeekr have innovated is with the centre armrest. The back half of this is a modular storage attachment that be removed and replaced with an optional fridge module. The process is fairly simple to figure out but secure enough to feel like it’s part of the car when in place.
That brings me to the actual storage capacity of the Zeekr X – it’s not great at 362 litres but it should suffice for couples or if it’s being used as the spare car of the household. Rear seats do fold down for larger items to be stowed, but by default, there’s not a substantial amount of boot space here.
You do have a powered tailgate, additional storage underneath the boot floor and a frunk too.
To be honest, the Zeekr X’s interior just about cuts it for everyday use in terms of size and practicality. It’s good, and they’ve made an effort to maximize the available space, but there’s just no getting around the space issue. Where the interior really shines is in the tech and details. I personally loved the use of light grey with a faux-stone finish instead of the typical faux-leather grain. Contrasted against the rose gold, the cabin looks truly one-of-a-kind.
The 7-speaker Yamaha sound system is sonically-excellent and you get rose-gold twitter grills too. B-pillar mounted rear air vents are also present and these are a bit of a rarity in smaller vehicles and unique on the SEA platform given that both the Volvo EX30 and the smart cars feature a centre duct. Given the Zeekr X’s modular centre box, this design was necessary.
Zeekr also made use of interesting geometrical shapes to break up the monotony of a minimalist interior. They didn’t just stick with one theme and run with it, and I think that’s a good thing. The X is pretty exciting to look at inside and out as a result.
There’s also the tech to talk about. At 14.6″ the centre infotainment is as large as you could ask for in a car of this size. To be fair, it’s usually what you get in cars one whole segment higher than this. Cameras are excellent and you have a full suite of expected features including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – all wireless of course. What was unexpected was the ability to play music OR messages through an external loudspeaker. I’m not sure of the legality of this feature – I remember how the police cracked down on user-installed megaphones during my university days but in the Zeekr X they’ve put some limitations on the tech. You can make cat or cow noises with your car, tell pedestrians that it’s safe to cross, thank a motorcyclist for giving way or ask to make way. The odd thing is that all this must be done in park and I don’t think there are safeguards to blasting music with foul music, but I didn’t test that particular part of the car out. Still, it’s all unique and quite impressive with potential for more adoption and improvement in future. You also get a sizeable 8.8″ digital instrument cluster in full colour.
How does it work as an EV? Well, most Malaysian car buyers are quite cognizant of good value-for-money vehicles. In the EV space, this is usually some combination of design, range, equipment, brand value and performance. In terms of just its specifications, the highlights are as follows:
- range is good at 440km (WLTP) from a 66kWh NMC battery
- DC charging speed is above average at 150 kW
- AC charging speed is below average at 7.2 kW
- 272PS and 343Nm of torque is excellent, with 0-100km/h dispatched in 5.6 seconds
To be honest, the only area where things could be improved are in the dynamics and the AC charging speeds. While the AWD version solves the charging speed issue with 11kW AC capabilities, it also adds more power and torque, which presumably doesn’t improve the way the car handles at high speed.
That’s not to say the Zeekr X doesn’t drive well – it does. In fact, I’d venture to say that it drives better than many more popular EVs from China. It’s just that it seems to have softer damping than its SEA-based siblings. The smart crossovers are noticably more confident in the corners than this Zeekr X and while I’ve not driven the EX30 yet, my colleagues who have say it too drives better than this. The softer sprung Zeekr X then is more lifestyle-oriented with performance as a secondary goal, so perhaps the AWD model can be avoided altogether for some savings.
And here’s where the Zeekr X’s appeal really comes into the picture. Priced under RM160,000, the base model gives you design and perceived quality that you normally have to pay through the nose for. You get more than enough performance and there’s little to complain in terms of EV-related specifications. Equipment-wise it’s also excellent. While I wouldn’t say that the Zeekr X would work as one’s only vehicle, I think it fits the bill for one’s first EV provided there’s another car in the garage that does space and utility better. To be honest the pricing is hard to beat and in fact there isn’t a brand offering a blend of specs and design this appealing at this price point and we’re sure rivals are planning price cuts are to keep the Zeekr X at bay.
2024 Zeekr X Premium RWD Specifications
Motor: Single Motor (RWD)
Range: 440km
Battery: 69kWh (66kWh effective)
Charging Speed: 150kWh DC (0-80% in 30 minutes), 7.2kW AC (4.0 hours full)
Max power: 272hp
Max torque: 343Nm
Top Speed: 180 km/h
0-100 km/h: 5.6 seconds
Selling Price: RM155,800
