Leapmotor C10 vs Zeekr 7X

What's the difference?

Leapmotor insists that even with the C10’s sub-par ADAS, distracting screen functionality and fiddly entry/start set-up, future OTA updates and downloads will sort them out eventually.

They blight an otherwise incredibly affordable, likeable, easy, efficient, practical, spacious and extremely well-equipped family-friendly SUV.

The fact is, the C10 in 2025 feels like some glitchy beta version and we’re the unwitting testers completing the user-experience development. As with phones and computers, OTA fixes are no guarantee of satisfaction.

Get your head around that, and the fundamentals are all there (perhaps with the exception of Apple CarPlay/Android Auto). But you’ll need patience and faith.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Zeekr 7X looks better in the metal, impresses with its European cabin ambiance and slick build quality from behind the wheel, and dazzles with its impressive specifications and wild software.

There’s unfortunately a lot riding on local calibration, all the way from ride and handling to driver assist tech. We’ve driven cars from new brands which initially look impressive, but end up being infuriating to live with, and it will only take local testing in the second half of 2025 to figure out whether Zeekr can manage to bypass some of the teething issues its rivals have faced.

It’s also a shame some combination of ADRs and the relatively small size of our market will kill off some of the coolest features this car gets overseas.

Regardless, there’s an impressive product here at least on our limited initial impressions, one which leans on its blended DNA to seemingly provide the best of both worlds - Chinese forward-facing tech, with European platform design. If this sounds like it could call out to you the Zeekr 7X is certainly a launch in 2025 worth keeping an eye on.

You could be forgiven for thinking that a V8 or diesel engine might lurk behind the C10’s doe-eyed face, with that high and bulky bonnet.

Yet the Leapmotor is packaged as a ground-up EV-first SUV. You’d never know by just looking at it.

Clean and uncluttered, there’s an unassuming simplicity and warmth to the C10’s design. And it does grow on you – more so, perhaps, than the Porsche Cayenne that clearly inspired it. That’s a feat in itself.

Nice visual touches include the smooth detailing, smart alloys, recessed door handles and clean lighting treatments.

A similar less-is-more approach is carried through inside.

At a distance the 7X looks, I suppose, like just another Chinese electric SUV. The sleek amorphous body shape is so synonymous with new electric vehicles, they may as well be designed by AI.

A closer inspection reveals a more subtle car, with a hint of aggression about its alloys and sturdy wheel arches. Its stance on the road is certainly more ‘European performance SUV’ than ‘generic family mid-sizer’, especially in the high-spec versions we had a chance to sample.

While I do think it will miss out on a bit of personality in its face without the clever pixel LED light bar it gets in the Chinese market, the rear three quarter might be its better angle, with 3D-style light fittings sliced out of the bodywork, blending with the bootlid spoiler and little flick of the panelwork down below to make for a hint of the sporty capabilities which lie below.

The inside is even better, though. Frameless doors give way to a space packed with lavish trims complete with an immediate and surprising feel of quality. You could be sitting in an upmarket Volvo or Polestar easily, you’re just confronted with an unknown logo on the steering wheel.

It also takes on more personality on the inside, with clever 3D-look ambient lighting inlays, ultra-sharp screens with dazzlingly fast software, and switchgear which feels as premium as any luxury brand.

The giant and completely dominating central touchscreen might not be for everyone, but it’s part of Zeekr’s mission to bring the overbearing sense of tech from the Chinese market to the luxury space.

It strikes me, sitting in the 7X, the days of Chinese cars being cheap and cheerful are laregely behind us. There aren’t even remote reminders, as you might still find from time to time in a GWM or MG product.

There aren’t cheap plastic panels where there shouldn’t be, there aren’t areas where it feels like the design doesn’t quite match up, there aren’t odd bits of switchgear which don’t feel as quality as they should, or mismatching fonts, or software which doesn’t match the rest of the car. 

It’s this attention to detail which makes a car feel more than the sum of its parts, and it’s clear Zeekr’s Gothenburg design studio hasn’t been limited in its scope in bringing a sense of completionism to every part of the cabin.

The C10’s simple elegance carries on inside, with an appealing minimalism that leaves you no doubt that this is a modern EV.

Big and spacious, with more than enough space for five people to travel comfortably, the first thing you notice is how sumptuously soft and cosseting the front bucket seats are. You sink in them like a plush sofa.

These are positive first impressions, aided by large side windows and the panoramic glass roof that bathe the cabin in lots of light, though thankfully a solid blind is also included.

We’re in the up-spec Design grade, with its synthetic leather upholstery (dubbed “Silicone Leather with OEKO-TEX” in Leapmotor-speak) covering most dash/door/console surfaces, resulting in a high-quality look and execution that does feel expensive. Even the plastics seem decent. We constantly had to remind ourselves we were in a sub-$50K mid-sized SUV.

Finding the right driving position is no problem, ahead of concise electronic instrumentation that’s easy to read. Ventilation is ample and storage is plentiful. A lot of thought has gone into the C10’s packaging and presentation.

Too bad, then, that it slips on the details, beginning with an almost total lack of switchgear.

We’re glad that the steering column adjustment relies on a good old lever, because having to dive into the centre screen and then use the steering-wheel buttons to reposition the mirrors is constantly annoying. We’re never with the cars long enough for the memory function to learn our preferences, but stuff like this should never have to be so needlessly complicated.

The touchscreen itself is slick and fast, responding speedily to commands. It’s far from the worst we’ve experienced for logic and intuitive operation, and the decent size (14.6 inches) helps. But why is so much vehicle functionality access behind a crowded electronic display? Inevitably, warnings chimed while eyes strayed from the road as our concentration was divided. We’ll be so glad when this dangerous buttonless fad passes.

Speaking of access, the back doors open big and wide onto an equally opulent rear bench, with the chauffeured passenger privy to vent outlets, sturdy cupholders, overhead grab handles, USB ports and a folding centre armrest. Again, nicely presented and well put together, the premium sense prevails.

So person-focused is the rear seat area, in fact, that the luggage area suffers a little, being smaller than the C10’s 4.74m length suggests. VDA capacity is 546 litres with all split/fold seatbacks up, extending to 1375L with them dropped. That’s barely more than what a Nissan Qashqai offers. At least the floor itself is low, flat and nicely presented.

Overall, then, the Leapmotor would have come close to scoring a 10/10 for practicality, rather than 8/10, if it were not for its annoying keyless entry/start regime, almost complete lack of buttons and no spare tyre.

The 7X’s dedicated electric SEA platform (a derivative of the same platform which underpins the Polestar 4) allows for familiar EV innovations like a flat floor and better integration for the battery pack. As a result, this feels like a quite, spacious mid-sizer.

Up front there seems to be great adjustability and a nice width to the cabin, and a nice sense of coziness provided by the plush trims and raised centre console.

A tilt-opening centre console box provides a large storage area below (which can be converted optionally to a fridge) while there’s decent storage in the doors, and a large cutaway under the centre console area.

Atop, there’s dual wireless chargers and dual cupholders with a sliding cover piece to keep things tidy when they’re not in use. Overseas versions at least also have nifty lift-open armrests with small storage areas good for sunglasses and the like.

While the screen is massive and is required to control many of the car’s functions, it’s not clear year exactly how deep the functionality of this software in Australian cars will be, suffice to say it will be more streamlined than the complex suite available in China at launch.

However, there are a set of four shortcut buttons plus a volume dial below the screen to add some physical functionality, which is always welcome.

There are also various customisable elements to the digital instrument cluster, setting it apart from the more basic versions out there on some rival vehicles.

Suffice it to say it will be easier to use for non-screen people than the Model Y, the incoming version of which will no doubt dump nearly all physical controls.

The second row immediately stands out thanks to its ease-of-access. The doors intentionally open a full 90 degrees, and you’re greeted with the open flat floor, making it easy to shuffle the whole way across if you’re only able to board or exit on the kerbside.

Space seemed more than sufficient for me (at 182cm) in the rear row, with airspace for my knees and plenty of headroom. The rear seats also offer power adjust and heating in overseas models.

We’ll miss out on the built-in mechanised tray and high quality entertainment screen option which was in the Chinese versions we tested.

In a clever touch, there are even a set of drawers under the rear seats for additional storage, to add to the standard bottle holders in the doors and drop-down armrest.

There’s tri-zone climate with touch panel controls on the back of the centre console, as well as some USB-C outlets for rear passengers. Adjustable air vents are located in the B-pillars.

The boot measures in at 539-litres which is decent, but perhaps not segment leading. It’s offered with quick release seats and a partitionable boot floor as well as a ski port.

Up front there’s a frunk, great for your charging cables, which measures either 66 litres in RWD versions or 42 litres in AWD versions.

Towing capacity according to European-spec vehicles measures in at 2000kg braked, although keep in mind it’s likely to be different for locally delivered vehicles as it will be measured when the car is complied with local suspension settings and to specific ADRs.

Put simply, we don’t yet know how much the Zeekr 7X will cost. In fact, Zeekr in Australia probably hasn’t even decided how much it will cost yet. For a clue, though, pricing was just revealed in Europe, the 7X’s first export market.

There, it starts from roughly $75,000 for a base rear-wheel drive version, although it’s worth noting Geely group vehicles attract a 18.8 per cent tariff in Europe, and therefore we’d expect it to be quite a bit cheaper in Australia.

However, it will also need to steer clear of its much smaller Zeekr X sibling, which comes in two variants priced at $56,900 and $64,900, respectively. Based on these two factors I think it’s fair to speculate a range of $65,000 to $80,000 depending on variant.

On the topic of variants, expect three as the brand will look to mirror its range in China (as it has already done in Europe).

Kicking off proceedings is a standard range RWD with a 75kWh battery pack good for a 480km driving range on the WLTP cycle.

Then there’s a Long Range RWD variant with a 100kWh battery pack good for a 615km driving range, and finally there’s a Performance AWD.

For anyone shopping around for an EV, especially in this mid-size segment this will be a very familiar line-up.

It also boasts a solid amount of equipment, although some particularly impressive items available in its Chinese home market won’t be available in Australia thanks to some buzzkill Australian Design Rules (ADRs).

Still, you can expect extensive Nappa leather interior trimmings, not just the seats and wheel, but in the console and across the dash, too, with a full array of electric adjustments for the front seats with heating (EU cars have the option for ventilation and message functions, too).

It immediately leaps out at you on the tech front with a 16-inch 3.5K centre multimedia touchscreen. This unit is ultra-fast (using a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, for those who care) and has clever graphics on the home screen which show the surrounding weather conditions thanks to its always-online suite.

For those sick of cars without instrument clusters, the 7X gets a 13-inch unit for the driver and there’s also an option to add a 36.2-inch head-up display (at least on EU-market cars).

On the outside there are a set of LED headlights and tail-lights, frameless doors and 19-inch alloys.

Stepping up a grade on Euro-spec cars nets some minor items alongside the larger battery, including an auto-dimming rear vision mirror, and a power-adjustable steering wheel, while the top-spec all-wheel drive adds a significant boost to performance, active air suspension, upgraded brakes and perforated leather trim on the inside.

Again, these standard items might not mirror what ends up being available in Australia, but it should give you at least a good indication of what kinds of things to expect.

Some particularly cool things on the Chinese market versions we drove which can’t come to Australia thanks to design rule limitations include the pixel pattern panel on the front of the car (which adds quite a lot of personality to it), as well as a big electrically-folding touchscreen panel and tray table on the back of the driver’s seat perfect for entertaining kids.

Like Europe, it’s also possible we won’t get all the interior options available in China either, like the Ming Dynasty vase-inspired blue and cream interior trim option.

The other thing to note is despite its premium positioning, expect Zeekr to continue to undercut electric mid-size SUV rivals like the Audi Q6 e-tron, BMW iX3 and the Genesis GV70 electrified.

While the brand agreed comparisons to Tesla’s Model Y are “inevitable”, the car doesn’t really feel like a competitor, because its larger and also because it clearly intends to shoot above the mainstream space with its specs and interior feel.

Perhaps the biggest threat to the 7X though will be the surprisingly plush Xpeng G6 (from a crazy low $54,800) which should be arriving in customer hands imminently.

As with the EV, the REEV’s powertrain centres around a rear-mounted Permanent Magnet Synchronous electric motor, driving the rear wheels via a single-speed transmission.

In this plug-in application, power drops slightly to 158kW while torque remains the same at 320Nm. The 0-100km/h sprint time takes 8.5 seconds, on the way to a top speed of 170km/h.

But that’s only half the story.

Out goes the EV’s 69.9kWh Lithium Ferro-Phosphate (LFP) battery pack, for a 28.4kWh LFP item, offering around 145km of WLTP range. It can be charged via a 6.6kW AC charger, 65kW DC fast-charger… or by an on-board internal combustion engine conveniently located under the bonnet.   

Supplied by Dongfeng, this is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder Euro-6-rated petrol unit of undisclosed power and torque. All it does is recharge the battery and has no physical connection to any transmission or driving wheels. It is a power generator, meaning the EV motor is constantly working.

Four driving modes are available – EV+, where the engine won’t kick in until charge drops below nine per cent; EV-normal, where the engine starts once the battery dips under 25 per cent; Fuel mode, which operates engine-charging from 20 to 80 per cent battery capacity; and Power+, where the engine is constantly charging. The latter is good for a battery top-up in preparation for EV-only driving in, say, congested city areas.

Note that the REEV weighs some 35kg less than the EV version.

The suspension – MacPherson-style struts up front and a multi-link arrangement out back – remains the same, and has been tuned by the Maserati sports carmaker (another Stellantis brand) of Italy.

There are two drivetrains on offer with the 7X. The rear-wheel drive cars are equipped with a 310kW/440Nm motor, while the AWD version adds a second motor on the front axle for total outputs of 470kW/710Nm.

It’s a punchy set of outputs compared to most options in this segment, but as we’ve learned with electric cars, it’s all down to how well the car’s traction software and transmission settings communicate this power to the wheels.

Acceleration times look promising. Zero to 100km/h is delivered in six seconds for rear-wheel drive versions, or just 3.8 seconds in the all-wheel drive (0.1 of a second slower than a current Model Y Performance). Max speed on all variants is an electronically-limited 210km/h.

The top-spec Performance AWD also adds the aforementioned larger brakes and air suspension with active dampers to help keep things all tidy.

Leapmotor says the C10 REEV offers an EV-only range of 145km (WLTP) from its 28.4kWh LFP battery, with its average electricity consumption stated at 15.2kWh/100km.

Switching to hybrid mode, 970km is possible thanks to a 50L fuel tank, with the 1.5L petrol engine averaging only 0.9L/100km, for a carbon dioxide emissions rating of just 21 grams/km.

As with most PHEVs, such numbers are pure fantasy when it comes to the real-world experience.

Driving it hard and fast over nearly 400km at speeds of up to 130km/h, we averaged an indicated 6.5L/100km, or between 19-21kWh/100km, which is a far cry from the official claims, but still good for a two-tonne mid-sized PHEV SUV with two adults on board and the AC blasting.

The C10 REEV sits on a 400-volt architecture and offers a maximum of 65kW DC charging capability, meaning it can be fast charged from 30-80 per cent in under 20 minutes, or overnight (at around 10-12 hours) to full capacity when plugged in at home due to its 6.6kW AC charger.

Efficiency seems about on par for a car this big and heavy, though it would be nice to see a step-change improvement. RWD versions have a WLTP-rated consumption of 17.8kWh/100km for the base Premium, or slightly less for the Long Range (17.7kWh/100km). The Performance AWD has a relative lust for energy, rated at a less impressive 19.9kWh/100km.

High consumption, of course, requires large batteries. The base Premium RWD gets a 75kWh lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) unit, providing a WLTP-measured 480km of range (about on par for the segment) while the Long Range RWD and Performance AWD versions get a 100kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) pack, providing an impressive 615km or 543km of range, respectively.

Regardless of battery choice, all versions have an 800-volt electrical architecture allowing a claimed 480kW max DC charging speed.

According to the brand this means a 10-80 per cent charge time as low as 13 minutes for the LFP battery or 16 minutes for the NMC battery.

It would make the 7X one of the fastest-charging vehicles in Australia, but keep in mind there aren’t many chargers (if any) currently capable of outputting such speeds.

Impressively, European versions at least can extract the maximum 22kW off an AC charger, allowing a slow-charging time of just 4.5 hours (LFP) or 5.5 hours (NMC).

We’ll have to wait and see whether this specification carries over to the Australian market, but it would be the only car in the class to get 22kW as standard if so. Again, good luck finding public slow chargers capable of outputting such speeds (most are 11kW or less), but it’s nice to have from a future-proofing point of view.

Additionally, the 7X is capable of outputting up to 3.3kW from its charging port in vehicle-to-load mode, which not all rivals offer. Check back next year to make sure this feature is equipped to Australian-delivered cars.

Probably the most remarkable thing about C10 REEV is just how similar it feels to the electric version to drive.

Identical even, at least until the petrol engine fires up – and even then, that’s just a fairly-muted hum, rather than a louder, constant-revving experience as per the Outlander PHEV or Nissan’s e-Power alternatives.

Always relying on the electric motor to drive the rear wheels, it’s pure EV from start up as long as there’s enough charge in the battery, with the now-familiar near-silent surge of acceleration, combined with instant throttle response and a smooth, relaxed attitude. Pleasant stuff.

Keeping in mind that the WLTP EV-only range is around 145km, in EV+ mode, it’s entirely possible to never even engage the 1.5-litre petrol engine for most shorter trips. It’s only when charge drops below 10 per cent that you’ll hear it seamlessly kick in. The same applies in EV-normal mode except that the threshold is lower, and keeps dropping in the Fuel and Power+ modes to the point where it might be almost always on depending on driving style. Yet even then, it’s never intrusive.

Other C10 REEV plus points include light and easy steering, surprisingly precise handling and nicely-modulated brakes (not always a given in electrified vehicles), while the soft suspension and plush seating really offer an isolated and comfortable travelling experience.

And there wasn’t even that much road noise coming through over the (admittedly super slick) Spanish roads we drove this on.

In these ways, the Leapmotor feels far more sophisticated than its low pricing and relative inexperience suggest. At least over a relatively short drive.

Spend more time in the C10 and some cracks do start to show. And they jar.

For starters, we did notice a disconcerting lack of power when battery capacity is really down and the engine is working overtime trying to bring the charge back up. At freeway speeds, acceleration was throttled back to the point of it being gutless and slow. This was discovered when we deliberately depleted the battery to see how the car behaved, so our advice is to not let charge drop below about 25 per cent to avoid this.

Find a fast and tight set of corners, and the steering can seem lumpy and inconsistent, losing its linear feel, meaning that the driver must keep chipping away to make it flow more smoothly through a turn. Now, this isn’t pretending to be a driver’s SUV, so we’ll let that one pass as well. Unless you’re an enthusiast, in which case, look elsewhere.

But we cannot ignore the annoying, frustrating and even at-times hazardous advanced driver-assist safety (ADAS) systems, that end up blighting the C10 driving experience.

For starters, when driving at speed on (adaptive) cruise control, the Leapmotor would sometimes randomly brake abruptly, as if to prevent a collision with the slower traffic we were safely overtaking. We experienced this in Australia in the EV version earlier in the year, and it did exactly the same thing on European roads. This is unacceptable.  

Less worrying but no less problematic is how the lane-keep tech sometimes fights you if you’re attempting to change lanes by putting up torque resistance. If you’re needing to avoid something, this could be dangerous. If you’re an easily-spooked driver, it may also be downright frightening.

And the less said about the trigger-happy driver-fatigue warning chime the better. It won’t even allow enough time for a momentary glance at the touchscreen – which is necessary if you need to change the climate setting, for instance.

You can switch these off, but a correctly-tuned ADAS system is there to possibly save your life, so what’s the point of not having them? Plus, they reset every time you restart the car, meaning more distracting menu-diving whilst you’re on the move.

That all said, at least the promising news is that Leapmotor is periodically rolling out over-the-air updates, with a big one set to address many of the ADAS issues from September, 2025. And they’ll of course be retro-applicable. But that’s still a long time to put up with sub-standard driving and dynamic behaviours.

As it stands, then, the C10’s dynamic tune still feels very much a work-in-progress. A pity as it offers so much good stuff too and at a great price to boot.

I had a very short test drive of the top-spec AWD Performance 7X on a test course at the brand’s home test circuit at Ningbo, which included a pre-prepared ‘off-road’ feature and about two laps around the car park. So our drive impressions are limited.

Still, the 7X immediately feels the part from behind the wheel. Heavy, purposeful steering communicates the heft of an electric premium SUV well, and the top-spec air suspension handled its weight nicely on a curve course. The big brakes certainly work well and the ride dispatched a set of speed bumps with ease.

The ‘off-road’ section, a steep incline designed to be mounted sideways to showcase the car’s clever torque-vectoring traction system, was also easy to navigate, and the additional clearance provided by setting the active suspension to its off-road setting was notable.

Additionally, the set of surround cameras were some of the better ones I’ve used lately to get a sense of where the important bits of the car actually are when you can’t see yourself.

From what I could tell, though, you can certainly feel the weight of the massive 100kWh battery pack, so don’t expect the 7X to be an ultra agile machine. You can also feel the increase in dimensions compared to a Model Y - this is certainly a larger SUV.

Still, the quality of the cabin and the ambiance inside jumped out at me, as did the sleek software and overall premium feel.

Make sure to check in prior to the local launch of the 7X for more detailed impressions of cars with local calibration settings. It’s likely Australian delivered cars will receive regional damper settings, and as always, the calibration of the driver assist systems will be key.

Even in my brief steer I felt the faint tug of lane keep assist on the wheel, so here’s hoping these features score their own local calibration which isn’t deal-breaking on day one.

I was also able to sample this car’s lower riding sibling, the 007 sedan, on the track. It proved as violently quick as you’d expect with its impressive specifications, although wrangling such power and weight requires a pretty strict electronic stability control (ESC) system. That occasionally sucks the fun out of corners and makes the car feel like it sometimes knows what’s best (and actually, maybe it does).

The brakes also proved to fatigue quickly at track velocities, although the same can be said for most EVs I’ve sampled, aside from the Audi e-tron GT which had impressive sustain.

If you’ve got your eye on this class of vehicle then, it might be worth the wait to compare it to the likes of the techy Audi Q6 e-tron, sedate but predictable BMW iX3, and decidedly more intriguing Polestar 3.

This car gets a set of active (crash avoidance) safety features so comprehensive whether they’re good or not will really come down to calibration.

Like Teslas, the 7X gets so many sensors and cameras it can provide a 3D visualisation in the dash cluster of all the people and objects around the car. It’s one of those new-age features which is undeniably cool and gives you an insight into how the car’s brain works.

The usual array of features otherwise is present including freeway-speed auto emergency braking, lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring with rear and front cross-traffic alert, as well as door open warning, driver monitoring (with facial recognition, scary), as well as adaptive high beams.

It can even automatically park itself. Actually, in China, at least, it can completely drive itself. We were treated to a tech demo of this car’s fully autonomous “level three plus” driving mode on public streets in Hangzhou.

When on, it shows a complete visualisation of its surroundings and the road conditions on the nav screen. It performed reasonably well in immensely complicated surroundings.

It pre-emptively changes lane itself, somehow avoids the plethora of two-wheeled vehicles and rickshaws driving through every busy intersection in a Chinese city, and is completely capable of stopping then driving through sets of lights all on its own.

The only problem is the system taps into and relies on China’s vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity. This is how it’s so accurate at knowing when to go and when to slow down at intersections. We’re way behind where we’d need to be for such technology to be deployed in Australia.

Plus it’s far from completely being able to drive itself. Occasionally it would merge into a bus stop lane and then have to merge back out, and at one point it managed to miss a freeway on-ramp and needed to circumnavigate the block to get back on.

Still, it’s a more sophisticated take on the tech than the exclusively freeway test I sat in for Tesla’s self-driving software a few years ago.

The Zeekr 7X is yet to be rated by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.

Better than average timewise if not mileage-wise, but some way short of the best (and inferior to the MY24 model’s seven-year/160,000km schedule), the MY25 C10’s warranty is six-years/150,000km, with service frequency set at every 12 months or 10,000km (REEV) and 20,000km (EV).

The battery warranty is at eight years/1600,000km, while Leapmotor also offers eight years of roadside assistance and capped-price servicing.

According to Leapmotor’s website, and with no distinction between powertrains, published prices are $260 for the first service, $460 for the second, $495 for the third and fourth and $290 for the fifth, totalling $2000 over five years.

Zeekr currently offers a fairly run-of-the-mill five-year and unlimited kilometre new car warranty and an eight-year/160,000km battery warranty on its X small SUV which has already launched in Australia, terms which we expect will remain the same on its follow-up vehicles.

Additionally, there’s five years of roadside assistance and the X at least offers long service intervals of two years and 40,000km.

On top of this, Zeekr claims its OEM-backed dealer model will allow for better aftermarket support and parts supply compared to importer outfits, and it is adding a raft of features for a premium ownership scheme similar to those offered by Lexus and Audi currently. From launch the X is also offered with a 7.0kW home charger, as an example.

The brand also tells us it is planning to launch with a more basic version of the software suite in this car, but is also planning at least two major software updates a year which will progressively add more of the features available to Chinese consumers as time goes on.