Zeekr 001 revealed – production Lynk & Co Zero EV

It’s only been a week since Geely announced its new premium electric vehicle brand Zeekr, and the first car to wear the badge has already been revealed. The fledgling marque seems to have stolen the model from Lynk & Co, as the 001 is pretty much the production version of last year’s Zero Concept.

The electric crossover has been carried over almost wholesale, so much so that it even retains Lynk & Co’s trademark design language, including the split headlights with vertical upper daytime running lights, full-width grille and segmented full-width taillights. It even has a similar square emblem at the front, although the design itself looks to be a little bit different.

Step inside and the familiarity continues, with the 001 sporting the same low-profile dashboard, tall wraparound centre console and massive centre touchscreen. Other details that are identical include a slim instrument display and a small pebble-like gear selector.

There are a few changes, however. The flat-bottomed steering wheel is different from the show car’s, with a slightly bigger airbag boss and a circular emblem incorporating the Zeekr script. The ambient lighting is also no longer imprinted in the dashboard trim, instead appearing underneath the panels, along the centre console switches and on the door cards.

No details have been revealed so far, but it was previously confirmed that the Zero rode on Geely’s new Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) for electric vehicles. This is in line with the company’s announcement that Zeekr’s models will ride on SEA with its own battery technologies, battery management systems, electric motor technologies and supply chain support.

At the time, the specifications listed a single 400 kW (536 hp) electric motor and an all-wheel drive system, with the headline figures being a zero-to-100 km/h time of under four seconds and a range of more than 700 km. All this was delivered by an 800-volt battery that was claimed to have a design life of over two million kilometres and would have been able to withstand degradation for the first 200,000 km.

Lynk & Co also claimed a perfect 50:50 weight distribution and world-class chassis tuning for its magnetorheological dampers and air springs, which were able to adjust the ride height from 150 mm to 220 mm. As for safety, the Zero boasted a CoPilot advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), utilising Mobileye’s SuperVision technology and EyeQ5 system-on-a-chip to provide autonomous driving functions.

While the move immediately provides Zeekr with a handsome and high-tech model to sell almost immediately (deliveries are slated to kick off in the third quarter of the year), it leaves the still-nascent Lynk & Co brand in the lurch, shorn of its flagship electric model. What do you think – is Zeekr the right brand to fight Tesla and other competitors? Sound off in the comments after the jump.

GALLERY: Lynk & Co Zero Concept