China’s Zeekr on Wednesday launched a futuristic vehicle with the kind of design that is normally seen more from self-driving car companies. The vehicle features what it claims is the widest entrance area of any car on the market and a versatile, living room-style cabin space, specifically designed to meet the needs of three-generation, middle-income Chinese households.
Why it matters: The Zeekr Mix, a roundish, cute-looking vehicle, is the first production model that uses Geely’s newly-developed SEA-M platform, which stands for “sustainable experience architecture,” a base it shares with the newest robotaxi prototype operated by Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car unit.
- Zeekr is on track to begin volume delivery of a sister model to the Mix, dubbed the M-Vision concept, to Waymo next year. This could facilitate the US firm to create the world’s first autonomous vehicle brand that goes into high volume, chief executive Andy An told reporters on Wednesday.
- Waymo began testing a small number of Zeekr-made prototype vehicles – outfitted with its sixth-generation, more cost-effective self-driving technology – in the US earlier this year as part of an alliance with the Geely-affiliated electric vehicle maker that was revealed in December 2021, TechCrunch has reported.
Details: The Zeekr Mix, advertised as having an interior “like a living room,” is the first fruit of the company’s transformation initiative which has seen it focus on the future of smart mobility. The vehicle comes with a number of industry-first elements at a price range between RMB 279,900 and RMB 299,900 ($39,339-$42,150).
- A radical alteration to the traditional way of designing a car’s structure, it features a double sliding door construction with four ultra-high-strength steel B-pillars, a nearly two-meter-long slide rail for all chairs, including two front swivel seats, and a capsule-shaped exterior design.
- This, along with a movable central console, would allow children to play or families to dine together in a 1.5 square meter (16.2 square feet) interior flat space, according to the company. The five-seater van also offers a 1.5-meter width opening area and a vehicle floor height of 390 millimeters (15.4 inches) for passengers.
- The unusual design of the nearly 4.7-meter-long vehicle required an extensive engineering process, including the use of shorter front overhangs and a more compact electric motor, as well as new development for springs and dampers, and the repositioning of the air conditioning system, Zeekr said.
- Despite concerns from customers wondering whether the car is safe enough to use, the company said the car’s hidden B-pillars are made of 2,000 megapascal (MPa) ultra-strong, high-formability steel. It also uses parts for crash energy absorption in the electric power system, as well as a rear body in a single piece – all features it says enhance safety.
- The Mix, with a 3,008-millimeter-long wheelbase, is highly maneuverable with a turning radius within five meters. It has two variants with a driving range of 550 kilometers and 702 km (342 and 436 miles), powered by Zeekr’s affordable iron-based batteries and more energy-intensive ones sourced from CATL, respectively.
Context: Waymo, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, operates a fleet of roughly 670 driverless vehicles in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. It has reached long-term partnerships with several automakers. In 2018, it signed a deal to buy 20,000 crossovers from Jaguar.
- Year-to-date deliveries for New York-listed Zeekr, with five other models on sale, are up 81% to 142,873 units as of September compared to 2023. A video posted by the firm’s vice president, which shows a group of people enjoying a Chinese hotpot meal inside the Zeekr Mix, went viral on social media recently, the SCMP reported.
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