Amid all the recent noise generated by BYD and Tesla, there’s one electric brand that has been quietly making inroads in the luxury EV market. Launched earlier this year by the Autohub Group, Zeekr is the luxury EV brand of Geely, with the 001 (pronounced “zero-zero-one”) as a shooting-brake sibling of the X crossover.

With lines somewhat reminiscent of the Kia EV6 and the Porsche Macan, the 001 has plenty of curb appeal with its broad-shouldered stance, 21-inch wheels, and sloping roofline. Many details abound like the blackout, fixed panoramic moonroof,  the pop-out door handles, the frameless side windows, and the prominent creases along the flanks like an athlete flexing his muscles.

The cabin is thoroughly futuristic with a 15.4-inch touchscreen, a compact 8.9-inch instrument cluster, and a heads-up display. Managing the climate control, the stereo, the driver aids, and whatnot is done through the touchscreen, and though it takes practice to familiarize with the user interface and the menus, the screen is easily readable at all angles and works quickly. The cockpit is powered by Qualcomm 8155 Snapdragon chips with 7nm processors, 16GB of memory, and 128GB of high-speed storage.

While older folks may not appreciate having physical buttons to work with, it’s worth noting that the car is basically a four-wheel smartphone with AI-powered voice assistant and many apps available for customization in the Zeekr App Store, which is powered by Harman Ignite (a Samsung company).

Continuous over-the-air (OTA) software updates also hold the promise of firmware updates as part of the ownership experience, although I didn’t experience anything buggy about the car during my four-day demo.

As for the actual driving experience, it’s actually quite nice. Even though this Long Range RWD variant makes do with just one electric motor good for 200kW (268hp), it has plenty of grunt and will do the 0-100kph sprint in 7.2 seconds.

The dual-motor Performance and Privilege AWD variants benefit from 400kW (536hp) and will do 0-100kph in 3.8 seconds—identical to the recently launched BYD Seal Performance, but the latter is priced at P2,548,000 while the AWD 001 is priced at P4,200,000.

This Long Range RWD costs P3,625,000, and though it doesn’t quite have the speed of its AWD siblings or even the Seal, it’s largely academic. On the road, power delivery is linear and gratifying, making quick work of passing maneuvers and easily getting you over the speed limit if you’re not paying attention.

Road din and wind noise are hushed despite the meaty Goodyears, with a firm ride that encourages spirited driving in the hills. The variable-effort steering, however, feels wooden and gets unnaturally heavy at highway speeds when set to Sport, so much so that it felt like a video-game tiller. I just left it in Comfort mode for a more natural feel.

With supportive seats, big sight lines, and plenty of headroom and legroom, the 001 is a comfortable touring machine although you’ll have to remind passengers to refrain from eating in the car. Zeekr keeps leather to a minimum in the car, opting for acres of suede and Alcantara. It looks and feels great, but the cabin is easily dirtied and will keep your vacuum cleaner busy all year round. While it has cargo room similar to a crossover’s with over 2,000L if you fold down the rear seats, ground clearance is that of a car’s at 174mm. You’ll easily clear steep ramps and potholes, but it’s no SUV.

Additional features include heating for the seats and the steering wheel, 12-way power-adjustable seats for the driver and the front passenger, a PM2.5 sensor, an eight-speaker Yamaha sound system, face recognition, a power tailgate, and a full ADAS suite.

The latter includes front and rear parking assist, rear cross-traffic alert, 360° cameras, a driver performance monitor that alerts you if you’re not paying attention to the road, traffic sign information, and a digital video recorder. Plenty of stuff to fiddle with when you’re stuck in traffic.

With a 100kWh lithium-ion battery, the 001 has a range of up to 620km in the WLTP test cycle, and only needs 5.5 hours to go from 0% to a full charge with an AC charger. That much range means you won’t need to visit a charging station too often, or even plug in at home that frequently.

As more and more EVs come to market at competitive prices, it won’t be long before the wealthy migrate to cars like the 001 for their daily-driver needs. With distinctive styling, impressive fit and finish, and usable range and performance, the 001 puts a premium on its uniqueness while delivering an experience that should be familiar to buyers who are fully ensconced in the smartphone era.