U-Turn! Lynk & Co 900 electric SUV has Land Rover design influence and Mazda pricing, so why aren’t we getting it in Australia?

April 28, 2025April 27, 2025 Toby Hagon 1206 Views 0 Comments 900, Lynk & Co

Here’s something different – a Chinese brand that’s changed its mind and decided not to come to Australia. At least no time soon.

Lynk & Co announced in 2021 its intention to launch in Australia by 2025, but at the Shanghai motor show last week where the luxury 900 SUV was revealed, Geely’s youth-focussed divison confirmed its reverse course on a local arrival.

Pivotal to the change is a restructure which has essentialy resulted in fellow-Geely brand Zeekr, which launched in Australia in 2024, taking managment control of Lynk & Co.

Mars Chen, vice president of Zeekr Group and the CEO of Zeekr International told Aussie media in Shanghai that Lynk & Co would not target right-hand drive markets such as Australia in the next three years.

Instead, he said, the focus was on making Zeekr successful locally.

“Instead of bringing a new brand we need to think about we bring some nice models for Zeekr,” said Chen, adding that there was the potential for some Lynk & Co models to wear Zeekr badges in some markets.

“This is a really nice potential option in future – it’s open.”

He made the point that unlike Toyota and Lexus – where there is a big gap in positioning between the two brands – Zeekr and Lynk & Co were closer together.

That said, while Zeekr is heavily focused on carving a slice of the luxury market dominated by German brands – albeit with pricing closer to mainstream models – Lynk & Co is more youth-focused, describing itself as “approachable”.

Lynk & Co’s new large SUV certainly fits in that mould. It’s about the same size as a BMW X7 or Mercedes-Benz GLS but should be priced closer to a Mazda CX-90 or Hyundai Palisade – if it ever comes to Australia.

Some of its design elements – particularly at the rear – have hints of Land Rover.

There’s a hint of Land Rover in the rump of the Lynk & Co 900.

It rides on Volvo’s SPA Evo (scaleable product architecture) platform, an evolution of the structure under various Volvos and Polestars (remembering that Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and others are also part of Geely).

The 900 has three rows of seats but the middle seats are captains chairs with heating and cooling and electric adjustment.

They can even spin through 180 degrees to face the third row for a conference-style set-up when the car is parked.

Up front is a small digital instrument cluster alongside a sprawling 30-inch screen that covers the centre of the dashboard across to the passenger side.

The screen has 6K high definition resolution.

Plus, there’s a 31-speaker sound system as part of the high-end flavour of a car dripping in luxury.

Those in the back also get a matching 30-inch 6K screen that folds down from the roof to ramp up the in-car entertainment.

And there’s some Range Rover thinking with the tailgate, which splits to unveil a lower section that acts as a table or seat.

But it’s beneath the skin where the Lynk & Co 900 gets even more interesting.

It features a latest generation plug-in hybrid system with up to 280km of claimed range, albeit measured using the optimistic CLTC standard.

The entry-level model gets a 44.85kWh battery powering two electric motors; the front makes 160kW and the rear 230kW.

There’s also a 140kW 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo engine that drives through a three-speed DHT (dual-hybrid transmission).

The engine drives only the front wheels at higher speeds to help boost overall performance. The combined outputs of petrol and electric is 530kW for claimed 0-100km/h acceleration of 4.8 seconds.

There’s also a more powerful model with a 53.38kWh battery and 187kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo engine. Its CLTC range increases to 280km.

Curiously the front motor of that car makes less power – 123kW, down from 160kW – but the system output edges up to 540kW, lowering the 0-100km/h claim to 4.6 seconds.

Later in 2025 Lynk & Co will also offer a new top-of-the-range model – known as Top – that deletes the rear differential and adds a second electric motor.

That gives it 123kW of front motor power, a combined 340kW of rear motor power and 187kW of 2.0-litre turbo engine for a total system output of 650kW.

Acceleration to 100km/h is claimed to take just 4.3 seconds and the CLTC EV-only range is 268km.