Australia to miss out on four-seat electric Zeekr 009 Grand people mover

Chinese electric-vehicle brand Zeekr has revealed a more luxurious four-seat of its 009 electric people-mover – the 009 Grand – ahead of the Beijing motor show, but it has already been ruled out for Australia.

Zeekr – part of the Geely conglomerate that includes Volvo and Polestar – is due in Australia in the second half of 2024 with both the Zeekr 009 people mover and Zeekr X city-sized SUV planned for local dealerships.

While it won’t make the Australian line-up, the Zeekr 009 Grand is scheduled to go on sale in China next month with a price of RMB789,000 ($AU169,000).

That’s a significant RMB290,000 ($AU62,000) more than the regular 009, but RMB29,000 ($AU6200) less than the Volvo EM90 with which it shares its platform, mechanicals and much of its body.

For the additional cost, the 5.2-metre-long 009 takes the people mover – already a well-equipped vehicle in a package slightly larger than a Kia Carnival – and adds heightened levels of opulence and performance.

While official power, torque or weight figures have not been released, the all-wheel-drive electric people mover runs at 800 volts, and is powered by dual electric motors for a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time of 3.9 seconds – compared to 4.5sec for the 'regular' 580kW model.

The claimed driving range is 702km in lenient Chinese CLTC testing, matching the regular 009’s capability when equipped with the 116kWh battery pack.

It is the smaller of two batteries produced by Chinese company CATL using the latest ‘Qilin’ tech offered on the standard variant in China.

The Grand’s visual treatment starts with a stainless-steel front grille and 20-inch polished forged alloy ‘disc’ wheels.

The interior changes see the number of seats reduced from six to four, giving each rear passengers more space.

The leather-trimmed ‘airline’ seats offer 24-way electric adjustment and ‘12-zone support’ which the car maker claims enables comfort for a variety of body types and sizes.

From the centre armrest touchscreen, passengers can access the 31-speaker Yamaha audio system – up from 20 speakers in the normal model – or watch the 43-inch LED TV screen on the partition, blocking out surroundings using 'light curtain' glass.

In what Zeekr claims is an industry first, the light curtain glass can appear ‘pure black’ in the darkest of 10 levels of adjustment, with the ability to block out up to 99.5 per cent of incoming light.

There’s also a large panoramic glass roof carried over from the regular 009, but the Grand brings hand-polished marble in the rear cabin and an 18-litre refrigerator which Zeekr says has sterilisation and heating functions.

The Zeekr 009 Grand also brings Artificial Intelligence (AI) to its voice control system and ‘eye-tracking control’ features, as well as an array of cameras, radar and lidar sensors.

The 2024 Beijing motor show opens to the public this Thursday, 25 April 2024.