Last week, Zeekr held a private preview of its Zeekr X SUV in Malaysia, indicating that the Geely-owned EV brand was on its way in to Malaysia. Now, that has been confirmed, with the Chinese company announcing that it has signed a cooperation agreement with Sentinel Automotive, which will be its local partner in Malaysia. It also inked a similar agreement with PT Premium Auto Prima in Indonesia, CarNewsChina reports.

The company will set up its first Malaysian outlet in Kuala Lumpur, with stores in other major areas such as Penang and Selangor also expected to be built later this year, and these will begin selling the X SUV and Zeekr 009 MPV, the first two models announced for both the Malaysian and Indonesian markets.

The automotive news site added that the first right-hand drive versions of the X rolled off the production line in China last week, with overseas deliveries expected to begin in the third quarter of this year, essentially indicating when the brand will make its debut here.

The X, which is underpinned by Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform, is sold in China in single-motor RWD or dual-motor AWD forms. The single-motor version has 272 PS (200 kW) and 343 Nm in the way of output, and this allows the SUV to accomplish the 0-100 km/h sprint in 5.8 seconds. As for the AWD, it has 428 PS (315 kW) and 543 Nm, which brings the century sprint time down to 3.8 seconds.

If those figures sound familiar, they are, identical to that of the smart #1 Premium and Brabus. The similarities continue with the batteries, with a 66 kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) unit offering 560 km of travel for the RWD and 512 km for the AWD, on a CLTC cycle (real-world range should be closer to the respective 440 km and 400 km quoted for the smart #1 in the WLTP cycle). As for charging, 150 kW of DC charging gets the battery from 10 to 80% SoC in 30 minutes for the smart, so that for the Zeekr should be similar .

As for the 009, it’s luxury EV MPV that is longer, wider and sits lower than the Toyota Alphard/Vellfire, so it’s not puny. In its domestic market, the 009 runs with a dual-motor all-wheel drive system, and with 544 PS (400 kW) and 686 Nm on tap, the big MPV can haul rapidly, doing the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 4.8 seconds. Two NMC battery choices are available, 116 kWh and 140 kWh, and these offer a CLTC range of 702 and 822 km respectively.

GALLERY: Zeekr X at BIMS 2024

GALLERY: Zeekr 009 at BIMS 2024

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