Zeekr 001 Review: China’s Model 3 Performance challenger

If you’ve never heard of Zeekr, you’ll be more familiar with other brands sitting under the umbrella of its Chinese parent company Geely: Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, and (jointly with Mercedes) Smart.

Zeekr, spun out of another Chinese brand, Lync&Co, is targeting the premium end of the EV market and bills its first car – aptly titled the 001 – as a luxury shooting brake.

Development of the Zeekr 001 began in late 2017, it was launched on the eve of the 2020 Beijing Show as the Lync & Co Zero concept, but a year later became the spearhead of the all-new, premium Zeekr brand.

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By the end of 2025, sources say the Zeekr portfolio will be extended to 10 different small, medium, and large models, all based on Geely’s fully electric Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA).

The Zeekr 001 is about to go on sale as a global export model, priced higher than the BMW i4 M60 and Mercedes EQE 500 but below the Nio ET5 and the Tesla Model 3 Performance.

Five metres long and two metres wide, the newcomer sits on a generous three-metre wheelbase that is big enough to accommodate a 100kWh battery.

The 59,490 Euro ($98,000), 203kW single-motor base version costs only 3000 Euro less than the much zestier, 406kW dual-motor model that can whiz from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 200km/h.

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Average consumption works out at 18.5kWh/100km – but even in Sweden, where traffic often moves at a snail’s pace, enthusiastic part-time lawbreakers may find 30kWh/100km to be the rule rather than the exception.

Although equipped with a potent 800-volt system, the fast-charging capability is restricted to 200kW. As a result, the standard 10-to-80 percent energy boost takes half an hour – Tesla does the same job in only 15 minutes.

At 2350kg, the air-sprung, top-of-the-line Privilege version is 280 kilos heavier than a Tesla Model S yet 55 kilos lighter than the base RWD Mercedes EQE.

Although shod with meaty 265/40 ZR22 tyres, even the no-frills Zeekr 001 Performance fitted with conventional steel springs and passive shock absorbers outclasses its rivals in terms of ride comfort on any surface at any speed, and it also deserves full marks for confidence-inspiring body control, precise steering action, and ever so slightly rear-biased torque vectoring.

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The air suspension is marginally more compliant still, and it flexes a few more g-force-defying muscle cords for even faster and flatter cornering.

Furthermore, the ride height can be lowered and raised by up to 83mm for venturing off-road where a maximum wading depth of 450mm awaits you just in case. Other assets of the Privilege pack are bigger, 21-inch front brakes and attentive continuously variable dampers.

There are five drive modes to choose from: Dynamic, Comfort, Eco, Snow and Off-Road. That´s the good news. The bad news is that you cannot mix and match individual settings, such as having the chassis in cloud-nine Comfort and the drivetrain in aggro (Dynamic).

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Perhaps one needs more time to get used to the car and the specific radar-infested Swedish driving conditions of our overseas test drive.

Dynamic is essential to unleashing maximum performance, though unfortunately the pedal response in this programme is more black-or-white snappy than intuitively progressive. The same applies to the brake pedal, which is either over-excited or a tad too relaxed, depending on the chosen mode.

Perhaps one needs more time to get used to the car and the specific radar-infested Swedish driving conditions of our overseas test drive.

At any rate, it does not help that the energy regeneration can be set only on low or high, because High feels like travelling with one foot on the brake while Low is still a long shot away from unchained coasting.

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On the credit side, we noted the reassuring directional stability, the strong grip, and the nimble handling that belies the car’s considerable size and mass. Another big bonus point goes to the near absence of wind and road noise.

Although in Europe it costs almost 40 per cent less than the 355kW Mercedes-AMG EQE43, the interior of the 001 is at least as classy, the ergonomics are as straightforward except for the remote steering-wheel and mirror adjustments, the all-in specification borders on the luxurious, the packaging is probably even a tad more spacious, and the sizeable 539-litre boot holds 109 litres more than the Benz.

Compared with its chief rivals, the Zeekr 001 settles at a slightly lower torque plateau (686Nm versus the EQE’s 858Nm and i4 M50’s), yett at 580 to 620km the 001’s nominal range easily eclipses Tesla’s 547km, matches or beats any EQE, and clearly betters the i4 M50 (519km).

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Level 3 autonomous driving is standard and level 4 allegedly only a couple of legislative steps away, but since ADAS was still deactivated in the pre-production test cars, we could not check out the different functionalities. About six months prior to launch in major EU markets, removing a bunch of reoccurring software bugs and adding one or two new features should be an easy fix.

There’s plenty to like about the Zeekr 001 and it’s whetted our appetite for the brand’s next model – the Zeekr X compact crossover out later this year.