I drove a 1400PS Chinese SUV that looks like a Rolls-Royce, and other oddities

Barely a week goes by without the reveal of a new Chinese car in the UK, but generally, there's a common theme. It'll very likely be a mid-sized SUV, and very often one with a plug-in hybrid system based around a 1.5-litre engine. Things get a lot weirder than that, though.

While on a trip to China for the Beijing auto show (officially known as Auto China), we hopped on a bullet train up to Hangzhou for a driving day with Geely. You're more likely to have heard of the cars under its umbrella, including Volvo, Lotus, and Polestar, but the brand itself now sells a couple of vehicles in the UK, and there are more on the way. Plus, by the looks of it, cars sold under the Zeekr marque are soon headed our way. 

We drove three different cars (admittedly not for very long) and had a good poke around another three. Here, we'll go through our impressions of each and rank the likelihood of them coming to the UK.

Zeekr 9x

A few Chinese brands have made cars that look an awful lot like a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, and Zeekr's effort is called the 9x. As if making a Cullinan on the cheap (its price in China works out at about £50k) wasn't enough to raise eyebrows, Zeekr has also given the car a plug-in hybrid powertrain with a whopping 70kWh battery pack. 

Combined with a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine, total system output is about 1400PS. Mind you, it needs a lot of thrust, because it weighs over three tonnes. There is a smaller pack available, but at 55kWh, it's still chunky. The bigger one can whisk the 9x along on electrical power alone for up to 188 miles, although that's by the flattering China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC), so you can knock a chunk off that for the eventual WLTP number.

We say eventual, because we reckon that this beast is one of the more likely Zeekr models to come to the UK, potentially causing serious disruption to the luxury car scene. But what's it like to drive? Well, for all its 1400PS, we weren't exactly staggered by the way it got off the line (the three-tonne weight figure won't have helped), but there's something amusing about the way the front end dramatically pitches up when you floor it. It rolls a fair bit when you corner, too. 

UK market likelihood: 8/10

Geely EX2 

 

The Geely EX2 confirmed for the UK market, and is by far the most sensible thing here. The would-be Renault 5 competitor is more than competent enough to drive, and the range figure (240 miles according to CLTC) will be plenty for most of the intended buyers. 

A good-sized boot and frunk, better-than-average rear legroom and a premium-feeling interior should help seal the deal for a lot of customers, but to get them in the door of their local Geely showroom in the first place, the price is going to have to be right. We reckon it'll be under £20,000, and don't be surprised if there

UK market likelihood: 10/10

Zeekr 009

Zeekr's somewhat confusing naming convention means that, as well as a 9x, there's a 009, which is a completely different car. This luxury electric MPV sits on the same platform as the Lotus Eletre, and is available with a variety of batteries going up to – wait for it – 140kWh. 

Power outputs ranging from 544 to 778PS seem quite pedestrian compared to the 009's 1400PS, but that's certainly not to be sniffed at. The longest-legged versions will officially do up to 559 miles on a full charge.

We didn't get to drive in the 009, but did get to sit in the back of one and have a general poke around. Although there is a seven-seater version available, the version we investigated was a four-seater with two enormous seats in the back that wouldn't look out of place in an airliner's business class cabin. They face a 43-inch TV, naturally. 

We'd actually dig this one in the UK, but a luxury electric MPV feels like a niche too far. 

UK market likelihood: 2/10

Zeekr 007/7GT

The 007 has a whiff of Porsche Taycan about it, with the 007 GT estate car looking rather like a Taycan Sport Turismo. The latter, we reckon, is the best-looking thing Zeekr makes. And it has a cool name which we're surprised Amazon MGM Studios hasn't kicked up a fuss about yet. 

Like so many Chinese cars, the 007 takes a leaf out of Tesla's book by dominating the cabin with a giant touchscreen and deleting the vast majority of physical buttons. But it's a plesant, premium-feeling space. 

There are two batteries available – a 75kWh pack and a 100kWh unit – with the bigger one providing over 500 miles of range. The big headline here is the charging speed, with a 10-80% charge possible in a mere 10 and a half minutes. The caveat being that you'll need to hook up to a next-generation, 600kW-capable fast charger, of which there aren't any in the UK just yet. 

It accelerates quickly, too, with the most powerful versions covering 0-62mph in under three seconds. The GT we drove didn't feel dramatically fast, mind, but it did feel reasonably well sorted in terms of handling in our extremely brief time driving it.

The 007 seems a fairly good bet for the UK, but the GT estate less so. 

UK market likelihood: 7/10 (7GT 3/10)

Geely Galaxy M9 

The M9 may be Geely's flagship SUV, but the SUV is still powered by the same sort of stuff you'll find in lesser models – a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder plug-in hybrid. Mind you, this one's a lot more powerful than something like a Geely Starray. The front-wheel drive versions punt out over 400PS, and then it's a massive jump to more than double that figure (870PS) for the all-wheel drive M9s. This is also another PHEV with a giant battery – 41.5kWh, to be exact. 

Electronically retractable treadplates greet you as you enter the M9's vast, three-row interior, available in either seven-seater or six-seater configurations. We had a look around the six-seater, which features two supremely comfortable and very adjustable middle-row seats. 

Rather than simple one enormous screen in the middle of the dash, the M9 ups the ante with a huge widescreen display which stretches over to the far end of the passenger side of the cabin. 

Like the look of it? Bad news – this is one of the less likely Geely/Zeekr models to make it to the UK.

UK market likelihood: 3/10