Luxurious Zeekr 9X hits spotlight in China

Zeekr has brought its next flagship SUV, the 9X, to the Auto Shanghai show. The company’s first hybrid vehicle is slated to go on sale in the second half of the year.

Despite an otherwise futuristic exterior, the 9X has traditional door handles. It also features a two-part tailgate: the upper part swings up and the lower part flips down when opened. Both are power-assisted.

The SUV is 5.29 meters (206.6 inches) long with 3,220 mm (125.8 inches) of wheelbase. Air suspension lets drivers adjust the ride height in a 110-mm (4.3-inch) range, with the top position resulting in a sold 288 mm (11.25 inches) of clearance.
For the interior, the company says a particularly deluxe four-seat configuration will be available, but most examples will be shipped with three seat rows.

The more tech-minded drivers will appreciate having a LiDAR under the windshield. Zeekr says the Nvidia Thor chipset on board has a power of 1,400 Tops and is strong enough to implement Level 3 autonomous driving. This implies that you will be able to take your hands briefly off the steering wheel in certain situations – given a proper implementation, that is.

A 2.0-liter engine under the hood makes 279 PS (275 hp / 205 kW) that you can send either to the wheels or towards more power generation (serial/parallel hybrid combo). Zeekr calls it Hyper Hybrid and claims it lets you attain supercar-like speeds in a vehicle as bulky as the 9X.

The front e-motor drives the wheels with 400 PS (394 hp / 294 kW), while the one at the rear end adds 510 PS (503 hp / 375 kW). Together, they take the SUV from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds flat and to a top speed of 240 km/h (149 mph).

Once fully charged, the vehicle has 380 km (236 miles) of OEM-rated full-electric range.