Author: I Xiaowei
Editor: I Chris
The Interior of JiKe X is Released Today
JiKe X, a small SUV positioned as a luxury car in the city, has released its interior today. JiKe plans to sell this car at a price of 200,000 to 280,000 yuan, which is more expensive than a seven-seater BYD Tang. Why does JiKe dare to claim that it is a luxury car and sell it at such a high price?
Apart from brand premium, whether a car can be considered luxurious or not depends on its design. Design includes not only appearance but also interior.
In the past, European luxury cars distinguished themselves from ordinary brands by using light-colored interior, leather wrapping, and wood decor instead of the tasteless faux leather and hard plastic of the common brands. Nowadays, the use of high-quality materials has become common, but aesthetics have not kept pace with it. For example, the interior of the XPeng G9, which uses Nappa leather, is exquisite, but becomes its biggest flaw. However, JiKe X has successfully avoided the pitfall of using good materials but looking not luxurious.
First of all, the color matching is exquisite. The gray-white and navy blue versions in the official pictures complement each other, and the addition of rose gold is the finishing touch. The last time I saw such a combination was on a Dyson hair dryer.
If the exterior and interior of a smart electric car are its appearance, then its soul is the central control screen. JiKe X not only has a good-looking appearance but also an interesting soul.
Luxurious Gadgets
The central control screen of JiKe X can be moved from the center to the front of the co-driver. The benefits of this design are easy to understand. If you play a video on the central control screen, the co-driver needs to turn sideways to watch the screen, which will distract the driver. Moving the screen in front of the co-driver solves these two problems. The information that the driver needs, such as navigation, is displayed on the instrument panel and HUD.
You may think that the HUD you’ve seen before is relatively small and can only display basic information, but the size of the HUD in JiKe X is much larger than that of a typical competitor’s product. Although the specific size has not been officially released, it can be seen from the bird’s-eye view of the car.#
From the official image, it can be seen that Zeekr X has adjusted the design of the car infotainment system UI. You can easily control the opening and closing of doors, charging ports, and tailgates from the 3D car model interface, and you can switch between the 3D car model and navigation with one click. Seeing such a user-friendly interface, Zeekr 001 car owners are drooling.
To meet the entertainment needs of the co-driver, other manufacturers’ solutions include long-screen, triple-screen, and dual-screen. The first two are limited by the screen size, and the experience is not good. The seemingly perfect solutions seem to be the huge dual screens on the XPeng G9 and Ideal L series.
Then the soul-questioning of this movable central control screen came. Why not directly use two screens like XPeng G9 and Ideal L series? In terms of cost consideration, developing a car-grade sliding rail may not be cheaper than adding a screen.
Perhaps Zeekr X’s designers think that using two screens will block the white decoration and ambient lights on the center console, affecting the aesthetics. Or maybe they don’t want to simply imitate the design of popular products from their competitors.
This screen is movable for the consideration of the co-driver. I don’t know if you noticed that the headrest of the co-driver’s seat has an extra wing compared to the driver’s seat and there is also a leg rest. In fact, this is a zero-gravity seat.
In the zero-gravity state, the backrest will tilt backward, and the leg rest will rise, putting the heart and knees on the same horizontal line. In this way, the body is in a zero-gravity state similar to astronauts in space.The first car that installed zero-gravity seats was the WM Motor M7, followed by the NIO ES8, both of which chose to place the seats in the rear of mid-to-large-sized SUVs. The LYNK&CO 07, however, was the first car to place the zero-gravity seats in the front passenger seat. Although LYNK&CO and LYNK&CO ZERO are both part of Geely Auto Group, the LYNK&CO ZERO is a smaller SUV than the 07, and the zero-gravity seats of the 07 may not be applicable to the ZERO. Nevertheless, the designers insisted on incorporating this feature into the ZERO, reflecting their high positioning for this car.
Unlike most cars, the lack of gear shifters in electric cars makes it easier to achieve a pass-through front row. For the LYNK&CO ZERO, this design makes the front row more transparent, and in extreme cases, two front passengers can even get out of the car from one side door. For this reason, the central armrest needs to be electrically adjustable. The buttons on the side of the armrest to adjust up, down, front, and back can create a more comfortable environment for front passengers.
In addition to the “big items” such as screens, seats, and armrests, the LYNK&CO ZERO also has many details that reflect a sense of luxury. For example, the side view mirror of the LYNK&CO ZERO adopts an ultra-narrow bezel design, inheriting the excellent tradition of the borderless rearview mirror of its cousin Geely Atlas. Do you notice the ambient light that runs through the screen? Ordinary ambient lights cannot be felt in the unlit state, but the ambient light of the LYNK&CO ZERO can be used as a textured decorative strip when it is unlit, combined with the perforations on the seats and door panels, giving the interior a sense of breathability. When lighted, the ambient light can also move with the audio ambient light on the door panel and center console. The perforations on the door panel can create a light and shadow of city skyscrapers. Does Mercedes-Benz, the king of ambient light, feel any pressure?
There are still more highlights to the front row. Above the passenger window, the LYNK&CO ZERO has a super-fiber eyeglass box, allowing you to feel its delicate touch every time you reach out to pick up your sunglasses while driving.
The rose gold decoration is widely used in cars, including the steering wheel, seats, window buttons, shift lever, and horn… The shiny metal matched with leather or suede reminds you of luxury bags, doesn’t it?
However, the most eye-catching rose gold decoration is the hook on the B-pillar. You can see the same design on a Bentley, and it’s also on the “Korean Bentley” Genesis GV60.
Compared with the GV60, the Lynk & Co 05 Plus is the true successor of Bentley. Stefan Sielaff, Lynk & Co’s Global Chief Designer, was the Design Director at Bentley before joining Geely Group, and his team is responsible for the exterior and interior design of the Lynk & Co 05 Plus.
In conclusion
▎Small SUVs are mostly entry-level products. We have seen too many small SUVs with plain or even perfunctory designs on the road, while Lynk & Co 05 Plus aims to make people feel luxurious at first sight, and the exterior and interior are the simplest and most direct ways to achieve that.
In terms of traditional luxury brand small SUVs, the Mercedes-Benz GLA, BMW X1, and Audi Q3 follow the family design line with smaller exteriors and lower-grade materials and configurations. Buying these cars has been criticized as “buying a badge.” In contrast, Lynk & Co 05 Plus not only takes a different path in exterior design but also creates its unique interior style.Different from competitors who simply wrap leather material, EQUALEX through the combination of materials, the matching of colors and the transformation of light and shadow has found a new way to create a sense of luxury.
Is this kind of EQUALEX enough to be called a city luxury SUV?
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.