Zeekr 7X revealed as firm’s first family SUV

Chinese brand Zeekr has revealed a new flagship family SUV that it says will be coming to Europe next year.

The 7X will be a large electric rival to the likes of the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe and Volkswagen Touareg and will go on sale in China later this year.

However, Zeekr says that the 7X has been specifically designed to suit global markets and will go on sale elsewhere in the world in early 2025. The firm already sells the 001 shooting brake and X compact SUV in Europe, so the territory is expected to be among the first markets for the new 7X.

Zeekr, which is owned by Volvo and Polestar parent company Geely, doesn’t currently operate in the UK but is expected to arrive in this country in 2025.

The 7X is 4.8m long by 1.93 wide, putting it up against the seven-seat options from Korea. However, it is intended purely as a five-seater, offering more interior space for passengers. Zeekr says the 7X will offer 616 litres of boot space, enough to ‘easily support a camping staycation’, and 32 storage points around the cabin for everything from ‘sunglasses to lipstick’.

The 7X is based on the same SEA platform as the recently revealed Smart #5 and is likely to offer a similar powertrain arrangement. Zeekr hasn’t revealed details of the motor or motors but says the 7Z will go from 0-62mph in a ridiculous 3.8 seconds, so we’d expect a potent twin-motor arrangement with more than 500bhp.

There are two battery options – a smaller 75kWh lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) one with a range of 376 miles on the lenient CLTC test cycle, and a 100kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) with a claimed range of 485 miles. Expect closer to 350 miles official range from the larger battery once the car is put through the tougher WLTP test.

Zeekr says the LFP battery will charge from 10-80% in just 10 and a half minutes, while we know the NMC one takes 15 minutes for the same boost.

There’s no indication of pricing or specification yet but, as with many Chinese models, we’d expect it to be keenly priced comapared with its rivals.