Introduction

Everyone has their own preferences. The unique attraction of the Zeekr001 is its high cost performance and two outstanding features, which are the air suspension and electric door that are used as the flagship of the PMA platform. On the other hand, the unique attraction of the XPeng P7 is its leading level of intelligent driving and cockpit experience. Of course, both cars have ample battery range and impressive acceleration. Let’s discuss who to choose.

For aesthetic enthusiasts

When it comes to picking a car, aesthetics are the most important factor.

The P7’s design emphasizes a sci-fi style with a sleek lightsaber front end that requires no extra embellishment. The 001, inherited from the Geely’s Lynk & Co family style, has an even more distinctive appearance with a combination of seemingly disordered design elements that emphasizes a sense of power and size. Both cars have divergent design styles, but they share similar appeal for aesthetic enthusiasts.

The XPeng P7’s design elements create an extremely futuristic and highly advanced look between that of a mid-sized sedan and a mid-to-large-sized sedan.

The lightsaber front end and the cohesive taillights that accentuate it are highly distinctive, while the sculpted surface light and shadow changes create a “less is more” advanced feel.

The design elements of the Zeekr001 are clearly in line with Lynk & Co’s previous designs, with elements of Dadaism combined in a seemingly disorderly fashion with a very large size, measuring 1,999 mm wide without counting the side mirrors. In conjunction with the thick front end and the signature double flank daytime running lights, it creates a superior sense and feel of size that has been highly successful in actual vehicle styling.

If matched with air suspension, the top-of-the-line 21-inch wheels on this car can provide a low ground clearance that could make you think of the Sport Turismo model of a certain German brand…

Regarding exterior design, personal preferences can guide the subjective choice. Here, only the three dimensions will be discussed. According to the recommended standard in China’s construction industry, the minimum width for a fixed parking space is 2.4 meters, and the width of the 001 car (excluding the rearview mirror at 1999mm) should pose a challenge for parking skills. With a height of 1.55 meters in line with Japan’s mechanical parking space standard, the 001 (without air suspension) is close to this standard (1560mm);

Interior design focused on experience

Entering the car, the 001 model continues its design philosophy of piling up elements in an orderly yet chaotic way, while the P7 follows a simpler and more futuristic design for the exterior. The 001 is clearly more luxurious, while the P7 stands out more for its technology and interactivity.

The most striking interior element of the 001’s Zero concept car should be the ambient lighting that illuminates the surfaces inside the car. It is unfortunately not included in the production version;

However, the luxury texture created by the optional two-color interior in the WE version or the free You version is rather surprising. In terms of layout, except for the additional instrument screen, the 001’s layout is actually quite similar to the center console of the Model 3 and is somewhat similar to Tesla;

The most noticeable feature of the P7’s interior is the little tray in front of the passenger on the dual-screen, as well as the slowly rising tweeter of the optional Dynaudio sound system, the speaker in the headrest of the driver’s seat, and the language interaction button on the rear door panel, highlighting the convenience of functionality, technology, and interactivity.

Interior design preferences are subjective factors. 001’s huge trunk space with the wagon body style is worth mentioning here. However, what’s more interesting is the size of the front trunk. Although it is claimed to be developed on a pure electric platform, the size of the front trunk is indeed slightly smaller (no pictures here, interested friends can go and see for themselves).

Intelligent Driving and Intelligent Cabin, which have been defined as important performance indicators of new car products

The advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) of Zeekr 001, which is bound to MobileEye Q5, and the intelligent cabin developed by Yekatong under Geely, as well as XPeng P7’s full-stack self-developed intelligent driving and intelligent cabin, are the most anticipated and most difficult to directly compare aspects of these two products. The latter is already available for experience in mass-produced cars and even continuously receives OTA upgrades to improve its functions. The actual effect of the former still remains to be seen.

Zeekr 001 reportedly used the Zenuity solution from within Geely Group in its early development, and later turned to the external MobileEye Q5 solution as higher functional requirements arose. Based on NIO’s early cooperation experience with MobileEye Q4, the implementation of functions and later intelligent driving OTA will require a longer time to achieve, which will test the ability of Geely’s team.

The cabin from Yekatong is one of the more advanced products among traditional domestic enterprises, tempered through earlier Lynk & Co. products. Its application on 001 also awaits real-world testing.

For XPeng P7, there are no good reasons to question these two aspects. One is the NGP expedition activity that has frequently appeared recently, and the smart driving experience that is continuously upgradable through OTA guarantees. The other is the intelligent cabin product that was realized earlier in China and achieves seamless voice interaction throughout the entire vehicle. If you want to know whether it is easy to use, just go to the store and test drive it. There should be an answer waiting for you.

Conclusion

Geely’s new brand, Geometry 001, and XPeng P7 are both products that can be proud of. One is the first product of a new brand that was developed based on self-owned brand Geely Group, and the other is an intelligent flagship product developed based on the idea of internet-based vehicle production during the new car 1.0 era. Choosing either one should not be wrong. Since they each have their own strengths, whether to wait for Geometry 001 or order XPeng P7 immediately to become a XPeng friend and an owner, you probably already have the answer.

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.