Horses that meow
‘The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe’ (1972) isn’t a film you absolutely have to have seen. Unless, that is, you have a soft spot for French slapstick – let’s say, Louis de Funès. Or Pierre Richard, the tall blond man. But in the film in question, there’s a scene where the husband, from inside a flower lorry, hears his wife telling her lover: ‘Give me the stallion!’. Which he does, whereupon the husband goes berserk on his bike. The Zeekr X, however, makes exactly this sound from the film; it can say: ‘Give me the stallion!’. The vehicle can also meow like this reporter’s tomcat when the tomcat’s hungry (i.e. 24/7); it can surely make even more sounds, but this reporter eventually got fed up with it, because the young, very conscientious man from Zeekr, who was supposed to explain all these brilliant gimmicks, lacked any sense of French slapstick. No criticism intended, no gap in his education – you really don’t need to be familiar with «The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe».
So the Zeekr X can meow and neigh, and probably imitate giraffes as well. One might well wonder what this has to do with automotive qualities, but one will also have to get used to the fact that such ‘skills’ are apparently in demand, at least amongst Chinese female buyers, who will dominate the future car market. After all, there in the Middle Kingdom, more cars will soon be sold than in Europe and North America combined. Consequently, the Chinese couldn’t care less about French farce and other Central European cultural ‘sensibilities’ – you wouldn’t believe it. And that’s exactly how it is: whoever sells well is right. Incidentally, the neighing, meowing, giraffe sounds and bicycle bell are meant to warn pedestrians – though by the time you’ve found this sound effect in the seventh sub-menu, you’ll probably have run over the pedestrian in question long ago.
You could certainly describe the new Zeekr X as a mobile smartphone – the Chinese wouldn’t even take offence at that. It can do everything an iPhone 17 or the latest Xiaomi thingamajig can do; it lets the driver play PlayStation 46 and instantly generates the latest Spotify playlists; it replies to WhatsApp messages via voice commands and reads out news from the dark web. It can also do virtual things that this ageing reporter didn’t even know existed. Or rather: that anyone might feel the need for them. We’re talking about Generation Z and beyond – trinary and transphil, and basically everything one could possibly imagine, however far-fetched. One might ask why a vehicle would also want to be a smartphone when, after all, everyone carries such a device around with them all the time anyway, but, no, we’d rather not do that now, because then pretty much every car manufacturer would find themselves in a bind trying to justify hyperscreens and other, primarily expensive, nonsense.
After all, the Zeekr X is, at the end of the day, just a car. It has four wheels and a roof, under which five people and their belongings can be transported from A to B – and perhaps even to D – without getting wet. Even in China, one cannot deny that this is the very fundamental purpose of any car. And it is precisely this – the transport of people and goods – that the Zeekr X does delightfully well. Purely electric, of course – that’s not just dictated by the current Chinese trend. Now things get a bit confusing: the Zeekr X is built on Geely’s well-known SEA platform, which is designed entirely for electric vehicles. The Zeekr is available with a 69 kWh, 61 kWh or 49 kWh battery. That’s not a huge difference, but it does affect the ranges according to the WLTP; for the Chinese model, a maximum of 415 kilometres is quoted. Since the 2026 model year, the maximum charging speed has been 230 kW – that’s decent, but not spectacular; you can tell that the X has been on the market for more than three years now, which is a long time in the electric age.
Power, however, is always plentiful: 272 PS for the rear-wheel-drive version with the small battery, 340 PS for the rear-wheel-drive version with the larger battery, and a whopping 496 PS for the all-wheel-drive version. What’s somewhat surprising about the 4×4 is that a permanent magnet motor is also used on the front axle. This means that the front motor, with its drag torque, has no positive effect on fuel consumption even when not in use. On the other hand, we did drive the all-wheel-drive Zeekr X briskly along country roads and on the motorway during the test drive, and fuel consumption settled at a still reasonable 18 kWh/100 km. And if driving pleasure consists primarily of impressive longitudinal dynamics – such as a sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in under 4 seconds – then the X is absolutely convincing. However, if you get more enjoyment out of nimbly navigating bends, then this Chinese car feels a bit… soft. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s comfortable, but it’s certainly not what you’d call sporty; we would like to see more precise steering, more feedback from the road, and more clearly defined braking distances. On the other hand, not many electric vehicles do this any better; indeed, ‘flooring it’ goes against the very principle of environmental friendliness that drives electric cars – and you can certainly feel that 1.9 tonnes are being set in motion here. This rather high weight is a little surprising, as the Zeekr X is pleasingly compact, measuring 4.43 metres long, 1.84 metres wide and 1.57 metres high. This places it somewhere between a compact car and an SUV, though it refuses to be pigeonholed anyway – something evident from its design, which is both daring and smart. The numerous sharp edges and angular lines suit this Chinese car well; it certainly stands out – though the Chinese don’t seem to have the courage to be bold with colour.
Inside, however, they do – many elements light up in blue or, at the touch of a button, in orange, depending entirely on the driver’s mood. In front of the driver is a small display (which is perfectly legible) showing driving-related information, complemented by a huge touchscreen via which virtually all functions are controlled. And there are plenty of them – sub-menu follows sub-menu – but we’ve already described that above. What absolutely must be mentioned, however, is that the layout is excellent, the (animal-free) materials used are of premium quality, and the overall impression of quality is outstanding. And the seats are as good as they look. Whether that will still be the case in five years’ time, well, we’ll have to wait and see. In Switzerland, the X is available from 37,990 Swiss francs, with the all-wheel-drive version starting at 47,490 Swiss francs. That means the Zeekr isn’t exactly a bargain, but that’s not what it’s aiming to be – the goal is a modern, urban lifestyle, and for that, the target clientele is expected to pay a bit more. Especially as a whole host of extras is included.
More electric cars? Zero. Everything else: archive. There’s now usually a Reel on jimycarz Instagram featuring our test cars; there’s one for the X too.