“Man, Zeekr isn’t messing around.”
That’s what I heard from outside the cockpit of the Zeekr 001 FR I was sitting in at the Las Vegas Convention Center yesterday. I heard it distinctly, albeit softly, because the 001’s cabin is remarkably quiet. I don’t even know who said it; he was just one of thousands of CES 2025 attendees who had gone over to see and feel something Americans have little experience with—an advanced electric car from China.
I should mention that when I heard this, I was on my third visit to sit in the Zeekr myself.
I went back a few times to play around with its high-resolution touch screen, to scope out what seemed to be impeccable build quality and to scroll through the menus of its central screen. It felt more like a supercomputer on wheels than any car you can buy in the United States right now.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr was one of several Chinese car companies with a presence at CES, the gigantic annual technology trade show where you go when you supposedly want to see the future. None of them seemed prepared for the amount of attention they were getting. And I’m not sure the automakers we know are prepared for what’s coming out of China.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
This year at CES, as in recent years, a vast wing of the convention center was dedicated to the future of the broad, often vague term that is “mobility”: autonomous vehicles, new types of electrified personal rides, ways to add artificial intelligence to cars and novel ways to control a vehicle or be entertained inside one.
The tech companies want in on your car (and your dollars) in a big way, seeing it as the next great platform for streaming video and gaming and your favorite apps. The car companies want this too, because they fear that if they don’t they’ll be left behind by all of their competitors. They’re pulling out all the stops to make it happen, from investments in big tech players to outright mergers to partnerships with unexpected players.
But that sort of thing isn’t the future in China. It’s the present. And perhaps ironically, CES is where you can see it right now.
Photo by: Patrick George
Take the 001 FR. It’s another product of the Geely Group, which owns Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and others but probably shows the most global promise with Zeekr. The FR is a hotted-up version of the five-door hatchback Zeekr 001 that shares a platform with the upcoming Polestar 4. But it’s probably even better. When I say “hotted-up,” I am not being hyperbolic; Zeekr says it boasts 1,282 horsepower from its 100 kWh battery pack and four electric motors.
It has an 800-volt electric architecture—very few U.S.-spec EVs do, but China overwhelmingly leads the way there—and can supposedly fast-charge from 10% to 80% in under 12 minutes. It’ll handle charging speeds of up to 550 kW, just almost nowhere in the U.S., since EV chargers that powerful barely even exist over here.
I didn’t get to drive the 001 FR; I wish. But I was wowed the second I sat inside. The door closes when you push the brake pedal, which I thought was neat, until my colleague and InsideEVs’ resident China expert reminded me that tons of Chinese cars do that. (He had the kindness not to add, “You absolute rube” at the end of his sentence.)
Kevin has driven a bunch of these cars on his various trips to China. He knows these brands well and he’s done some great stories about them, stories that I have often edited. But reading about something and seeing it for yourself are two very different things.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
Inside, the Zeekr’s quality seemed excellent overall and the bright-red interior boasted enough Alcantara to make a Porsche jealous. But I was especially wowed by its 15.05 inch 2.5K OLED center screen. Reader: I don’t think I have ever seen an in-car screen so hi-res.
And while the voice controls were limited to Chinese commands only, I played around with a fast-moving 3D model of the car that let me open any door (or all of them at once) with just a tap. It’s like a Tesla screen, but with better graphics, legibility and layout for its various apps.
I like my Kia EV6 a lot, but the screen and software in that Zeekr make my car feel like a Kia Sephia by comparison.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
I moved on to the Zeekr Mix next to the 001 FR. Calling it a “luxury minivan” undersells the experience a bit. Here in America, a minivan is something you stuff your kids into, a car that ends its tour of duty with a floor permanently coated in melted crayons and Cheerios. Not so in China, where minivans are basically giant limousines on wheels, chauffer-driven luxury liners that offer respite from the harsh realities of daily living in a country with one of the world’s most punishing work cultures.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
The electric Mix feels like what the Chrysler Pacifica should’ve been in 2025 if Stellantis had been even remotely on the ball: an up-to-102 kWh battery pack, another 800V architecture and 340 miles of range (albeit on China’s generous testing cycle.) You get heated, ventilated and massaging seats that face each other, and an interior that can “transform into a lounge for card games with friends, a relaxing and comfortable fishing spot, or even a private yoga studio,” as Zeekr puts it. That’s one hell of a minivan.
They had another one at their display that I could never even get close to, the Zeekr 009 Grand MPV. “That’s like the ultra nice one,” Kevin told me later, as if the other two somehow weren’t as plush. But I was especially drawn to the Waymo stand, where a Zeekr RT looked ready for autonomous robotaxi duty. And it’ll likely be one of the better ones out there, powered by the Nvidia DRIVE Thor next-generation computing platform to deliver advanced autonomy.
Photo by: Patrick George
Then there was the plug-in hybrid crossover from Wey, the “premium” brand of Great Wall Motor. I must confess I hadn’t heard of Wey, but Great Wall is kind of an OG in the Chinese car world—it’s been making passenger cars since the early 1990s.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
I didn’t think much of the Wey Lanshan at their display stand until I peeked inside and let out an audible gasp at the sheer size of the screen inside. It’s more like a flatscreen TV in there, and a software system packed with all sorts of apps: streaming video, smartphone mirroring, audiobooks for kids, a half-dozen music services, you name it.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
Finally, there was the Xpeng AeroHT, a six-wheeled plug-in hybrid van meant to launch an electric mini-helicopter from its rear hatch. I’m going to cover this in a separate story. Vaporware? Maybe so. CES has plenty of that, and always has. But some of the hardware it uses, like Xpeng’s 800V silicon carbide fast-charging technology, is very real. And if we can go back to Zeekr for a second, its next-generation “Golden Brick Battery” claims to be the fastest-charging one in the world. It’s backed up by Zeekr’s 800V fast-charging network that’s spreading over much of the world—just not here.
Photo by: InsideEVs
Xpeng AeroHT Land Aircraft Carrier
Now, let’s take a quick look at the “competition” that debuted at CES.
As we’ve covered before, the Sony-Honda Afeela 1 feels like Japan Inc.’s attempt at making a China-style EV: huge screen, sleek looks, a focus on automated driving and a giant library of entertainment to enjoy while you’re parked (or maybe even while you’re being driven.) It’s a shot at doing the stuff Zeekr and BYD and Nio and Xpeng are already doing, which makes sense.
Photo by: Honda UK
Sony-Honda Afeela 1 CES 2025
Except for the rest of the specs. The Afeela 1’s range is estimated to be around 300 miles—table stakes for any EV in 2025, and probably rather outdated when it hits the road in 2026. And that 150 kW “fast” charging, like it’s some bargain-basement used Audi E-Tron? Come on. I haven’t heard from a single person interested in paying $103,000 for specs like that, and I doubt I will.
Honda’s own next-generation 0 Series EVs look incredible inside and out. But we know nothing else about it. We suspect it won’t be cheap. And if it launches with the same specs as the Afeela 1, it’ll be DOA.
Photo by: InsideEVs
I talked to dozens of auto and tech industry executives, engineers and analysts at CES; many of them spoke of “catching up” to China. That phrase came up more than I would’ve expected. It’s not even about beating the competition anymore; it’s about just getting to where it’s at now, hoping tariffs will continue to hold them at bay until some other breakthrough happens.
And none of those people think Chinese cars like these will stay out of the U.S. forever. Or for very much longer. And all the goals they’re working toward—better batteries, faster charging, better software and so on—are what Chinese buyers can own right now.
Photo by: Patrick George
Zeekr Mix and 001 FR at CES 2025
We know how China got ahead. We’ve covered this before, here. Copious state investments, a single-minded focus on electrification and software, learning from their Western and other Asian joint venture partners, an often-questionable supply chain, insane work hours and intense internal competition. It’d be unjust to suggest the rest of the world do all of that, and who would want to? But no matter how China’s automakers got here, they seem to be making a stronger and more advanced product than nearly everyone else—and that’s why they only needed to bring their actual cars to CES and not just far-off concepts.
I don’t have the answers here. For their own sake, the people who run the rest of the auto industry had better have some.
29
Patrick George
Contact the author: [email protected]
