Zeekr 8X revealed – 9X “Sport” is smaller and sleeker with 2.0T REEV powertrain; up to 3 motors, 1,400 PS?

Zeekr has revealed the first images of its 8X, a new near-flagship SUV that slots just below the top-dog 9X. Incorporating that car’s imposing styling and powerful range-extended EV powertrain into a sleeker and sportier shape, it’s underpinned by the sportier variant of the Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA-S) as shared with the Lotus Eletre, rather than the 9X’s full-size SEA-R.

As we saw in previous camouflaged photos, the 8X retains its sibling’s massive Rolls-Royce-style silver grille and C-shaped LED headlights with twin horizontal daytime running light strips, plus additional projectors sitting below. The front end is smoother and less upright, as is the glasshouse that ditches the 9X’s wraparound windscreen design and thick silver C-pillar trim.

Meanwhile, the full-width taillights mirror the front’s twin-bar graphic, only with the bottom bar interrupted to fit the Zeekr script and the higher positioning of the number plate recess. The overall effect is less Rolls-Royce Cullinan and more Porsche Cayenne, with some Genesis-style lighting thrown in for good measure.

Just like the 9X, the 8X features a top-mounted lidar sensor as standard and uses “conventional” door mirrors (not the 7X‘s shrink-wrapped items) and pull-type door handles instead of flush-fitted pop-out ones. There’s also no Stargate customisable front light “curtain”, so the car looks less tech-forward. Large wheels with a star-shaped design provide the finishing touch.

No interior images have been made available just yet, but expect the 8X to receive elements of the 9X’s plush cabin, including the brace of screens – a 13-inch digital instrument display, a 47-inch augmented reality head-up display and a widescreen display panel housing 16-inch OLED centre and passenger touchscreens.

Zeekr has confirmed that the 8X will feature a “super hybrid” (read: range extender) powertrain, almost certainly shared with the 9X. This consists of 897 PS/935 Nm dual- and 1,400 PS/1,410 Nm triple-motor (two on the rear axle) configurations, with a 2.0 litre turbo four-cylinder engine functioning as a range extender. Even the 9X is capable of getting from zero to 100 km/h in as little as 3.1 seconds, and we expect the 8X to be even quicker.

Also expected to be carried over is the 9X’s range of 55 kWh and 70 kWh NMC batteries, the latter delivering up to 380 km of pure electric range on China’s admittedly lenient CLTC cycle; the 8X will likely travel further still thanks to better aerodynamics. Both are capable of “6C” DC charging (six times the capacity of the battery in kW) and can be topped up from 20 to 80% in just nine minutes.

The 8X will essentially be a twin of a new range-extended version of the Eletre, rather amusingly called (in China, anyway) the Lotus For Me. A ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT) filing sighted by Autohome revealed a dual-motor powertrain and a pure electric range of up to 355 km, plus a fuel consumption figure of 5.98 litres per 100 km even with the battery in a low state of charge.

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