2025 Zeekr X Review: EV newcomer brings some spice to the electric SUV category – and some Tesla-inspired tech

January 12, 2025January 11, 2025 Toby Hagon 183 Views 0 Comments Zeekr X

Zeekr is one of a number of new Chinese brands trying to carve itself a slice of the Australian car market.

While the brand itself may be unknown to many – it only built its first car in 2021 – its parent company is more familiar.

Geely is the parent of Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and others. It will also soon start selling cars wearing a Geely badge in Australia.

And Zeekr is its premium brand designed to muscle in on luxury car brands with cars that “reimagine luxury electric automobiles”.

Zeekr has plans for a broad and soon-to-expand model portfolio – including the Zeekr 009 that’s dripping in luxury gear – and in Australia it all kicks off with the Zeekr X we’ve tested here.

Beneath the distinctive Swedish-designed skin it shares plenty with the Volvo EX30.

Zeekr X price and equipment

Most of the action in the electric SUV category has been from mid-sized options.

But the Zeekr X is a small SUV (albeit not super small).

Its price tag, though, butts up against some of the mid-sizers.

The Zeekr X is priced from $56,900 plus on-road costs for the single motor rear-wheel drive version.

The Zeekr X AWD adds a front motor for all-wheel drive as well as more equipment and is priced from $64,900 plus ORCs.

All come with a panoramic sunroof, black roof, powered driver’s seat, wireless phone charging and dual zone ventilation. There’s also an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster and 14.6-inch central infotainment unit.

A $4000 Convenience pack adds a power adjustable passenger seat, memory function for the driver’s seat, heated and ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, ambient lighting and a 13-speaker Yamaha sound system.

The Zeekr X AWD gets that Convenience Pack standard as well as 20-inch alloys (up from 19s), a head-up display and an “intelligent B-pillar display”, which is a small circular screen that can be seen from outside the car to show what the battery charge level is at.

2025 Zeekr X: What we think

It may be a small SUV but the Zeekr X makes good use of its interior space to create a thoroughly useful cabin.

Headroom is terrific throughout and rear legroom is also decent.

The boot isn’t huge but there’s a small frunk under the bonnet for storing charging cables.

And the X is nicely presented, from the interesting ambient lighting that illuminates perforations in the doors to high quality finishes and copper-tinged highlights.

The more time you spend in it the more you notice nice little touches, such as the bag hook button that pops out of the central dash or jacket hooks on each of the B-pillars.

The intensity and hue of the overhead lights can be adjusted by sliding your finger over the light itself.

The Zeekr X is big on tech, too, some of it with a decidedly Tesla flavour.

You don’t need to press a start button to get things going; just sit inside with the key and everything comes to life.

Plus the 14.6-inch central infotainment screen incorporates a pet mode (which keeps the AC running when parked while flashing a note on the screen alerting passers-by to the temperature inside) and Sentry, which can use the external cameras to record incidents such as theft or vandalism.

You can also play games on the screen, play a light show outside the car and pump audio through an external speaker.

Whereas Tesla does without a traditional instrument cluster, the Zeekr X gets an 8.8-inch screen and the AWD model adds to that with a head-up display.

There’s also a sporty flavour, starting with the front seats that hug nicely and integrate the headrests into the main body of the seat.

It’s sporty to drive, too.

The Zeekr X AWD makes a combined 315kW and 543Nm, enough to launch it to 100km/h in 3.8 seconds. It’s effortless, easy and never lacking for thrust. And with more power going to the rear that the front (the back motor makes 200kW, the front 115kW) there’s some playfulness in the way it delivers its grunt.

It’s also confident in bends with sticky Continental tyres laying the foundations for its dynamic prowess.

The X is taut over bumps, so second grade roads can have it jumping around.

But the body is nicely controlled and engaging driving manners make it a worthy trade-off.

There’s the occasional hiccup, such as the rubber seals around the frameless windows that can creak over bumps and through bends.

And the 66kWh battery provides 425km of WLTP range, which is decent but not outstanding. It’s not the sort of EV you’d want to take on regular road trips.

2025 Zeekr X: Verdict

As with any new luxury brand the biggest challenge Zeekr will have is convincing buyers to look sideways from BMW, Lexus and others and go with a brand they know little about.

To some extent it’s a leap of faith.

But there’s plenty of substance to the Zeekr X as well as some impressive attention to detail.

It drives well and delivers on value once you consider the performance, tech and relatively spacious compact SUV body.

Its biggest challenge could be its price tag – and the lack of brand cachet.

Still, the Zeekr X is something different and fresh in the SUV space.

Score: 4

2025 Zeekr X AWD specifications

Price: $64,900 plus on-road costs
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, SUV, AWD
Range: 425km
Battery capacity: 66kWh
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Energy consumption: 15.5kWh/100km
Motors: 1 front 115kW/200Nm and 1 rear 200kW/343Nm (315kW/543Nm combined)
AC charging: 11kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 150kW, CCS combo plug
0-100km/h: 3.8 seconds