Genesis GV60 vs Zeekr X

What's the difference?

It’s still a tall order. There’s no getting around the fact this is a lot of money to part with for a weird looking electric car from a brand so new to the luxury space.

While I wasn’t convinced going in, the way this car unites some of the best attributes of its Ioniq 5 and EV6 relations, while bringing with it such a unique look and feel, has swayed me.

I understand this car a lot better now, and this is maybe the biggest catch; you need to spend some time with this car to decide if it’s for you, because I don’t think it will be for everyone. That said, if you like what you’ve seen or read here, give it a try, you might be surprised by what you find.

It's a good thing in a small package, this Zeekr X, and there are a lot of things I like about it. In fact, the only sticking point for me is the price. But that's all about perspective. If you see this as a newcomer Chinese brand, then yes, there are a lot of more affordable options out there. But if you see it as a premium player, it's really a more affordable version of a Volvo.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number of automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

All of these features are impressive, but you have to be on board with the way this car has been styled. It’s a tad confronting, with its curvy, bulbous look, and an unfamiliar version of the Genesis face.

It’s not as traditionally appealing as the rest of the brand’s range, and I think it’s a bit risky. Then again, this car has to do something dramatic to slot in alongside the outrageously styled Hyundai Ioniq 5, and sporty Kia EV6 with which it shares its underpinnings.

My take: I’m not sure I love it, but there are bits I like. The ‘deconstruction’ 21-inch alloys look incredible and fill this car’s wheel arches, the Genesis signature light fittings pair nicely with the chrome highlight stripe running down the roofline, and the integrated spoiler accentuates the rear hatch.

What gets the concept car cred is those digital wing mirrors. In my time with the car they attracted the most attention from onlookers, and cement the futuristic Genesis brand theme.

An interesting factor of this car’s design is how small it looks. From the outside it looks a fraction of the size of the Ioniq 5 or EV6, and inside it feels the most like a hatch, despite the dimensions being close between the three siblings.

It may have a tight, low-slung feel, but thanks to its platform, the interior remains expansive. The light theme in our test car helps it feel airy and spacious, although my advice is to go with the darker of the three interior colour themes as it will probably age better.

Either way, the flat floor, low dash, and plentiful window space makes for an open-feeling area.

The floating centre console piece is closest in design and execution to the one in the EV6, but with its own kind of showmanship. It’s finished in a metal casing, with the highlight being the crystal gear selector.

With the car on, it exudes an ambient light and is surrounded by silver, but with it off, it flips over to become a luminescent crystal ball. 

One part of me says this is completely ridiculous and over-the-top, but then so are many of the interior elements going into rival vehicles (like the Mercedes ‘hyperscreen’, for example, or BMW’s similar use of crystals for key control items, or the Lexus RZ’s holographic diamond pattern projected into its door frame) which are just as attention-grabbing for the sake of it.

There’s a lot to like, and I think importantly for buyers it’s a unique take.

Genesis has imprinted a lot of its identity in this car’s cabin, which only serves to set it apart from its rival luxury players. It won’t be for everyone, and maybe that’s okay.

The visual changes aren’t massive. This AWD version welcomes a couple of new exterior colours, including the 'Matt Khaki Green' of our test car. It also gets the two-tone black roof and there are new 20-inch alloy designs.

Elsewhere, it's the futuristic-style of design we’re used to which differentiates the X from its Volvo EX30 twin under the skin.

Inside, this is a seriously well-equipped and polished-feeling small SUV, and — unlike some of the newcomer brands to Australia — it all feels very high quality and well put together. And that includes the material choices.

I don’t even hate the fact that most of the functions are controlled via this screen, thanks to the little shortcuts glued to the home screen. I do, however, hate the fact that there’s no easy way to change the wing mirrors or shortcuts for toning down some of the safety stuff.

That aside, though, it’s a nice and high-quality feeling space.

As already mentioned, the front seat is a spacious, open environment, with plenty of practicality offered for occupants.

The floating centre console offers two centre cupholders and a shallow armrest box, and while it doesn’t shift back and forth like the unit in the Ioniq 5, it does have a netted storage compartment underneath.

There are plenty of additional storage areas, including a small bay under the USB-C outlets on the floor, a set of two sunglass holders (one under the climate unit and a second in the roof), large pockets with integrated bottle holders in the doors and an interesting slide-out drawer in place of a glove box.

The back seat feels just as spacious, with plenty of width and a flat floor making it a reasonable proposition for seating three adults across. Headroom is its least appealing dimension, with the roof dipping slightly to allow for the sliding sunroof cover.

Amenities are also plentiful, with adjustable vents in the pillars, a bottle holder in the door card, or a cupholder in the armrest, a further two cupholders in the padded drop-down centre piece, hard shell map pockets on the backs of the front seats, USB-C outlets on the back of the centre console, and a huge netted storage area underneath.

Perhaps the most welcome addition, though, is the full-size household-style power outlet under the rear bench, which lets you use the rear space as a mobile office or a comfortable, air-conditioned place to read while charging.

The boot measures in at 432 litres. It’s on-par for the mid-size SUV segment, but like its Ioniq 5 and EV6 relations, the floor is quite high leading to a wide but height-limited area. To fit the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set, for example, I had to remove the roller cover.

Underneath, there’s a small area for the storage of charging paraphernalia and the tyre repair kit. A tiny frunk also exists, best for the storage of similar items.

You know you're in a small vehicle when you can't fit two large (not those crazy American-style jumbo cups, just normal coffee-shop takeaway) coffees in the cupholders, but so it is with the Zeekr X.

The small SUV's 4432mm length, 1836mm in width and 1566mm height doesn't leave much room to spread out up front. There's ample room for driver and passenger, of course, but we are talking about a small vehicle here.

Clever storage helps to mitigate that, though, especially the super-deep storage space in the centre console and the very clever fridge that separates the driver and passenger seats.

Weirdly, though, the space doesn’t feel overly tight in the back seat. We had a massive baby seat in there, and that fit without issue. And full size humans can genuinely get pretty comfortable. I'm 175cm, and I had enough knee and headroom.

In the boot, there’s 404 litres of volume with the rear seats upright and 1247 litres with them folded flat. And it’s worth pointing out this isn’t intended to be a family car, but there’s certainly enough space for the shopping... and a pram.

This is a small SUV with a LOT of stuff. There are two trims in the Zeekr X range – the entry-level rear-drive model is $48,900, drive-away, while the all-wheel drive version we've tested is $57,900 on the road.

The obvious comparison is to the Volvo EX30, which shares its platform with the Zeekr X through both brands' Chinese parent company Geely.

As of right now, the cheapest single-motor Volvo is $56,051, drive-away in NSW, or $49,990 plus on-roads, making the Zeekr version much, much cheaper.

Anyway, outside there are 19- or 20-inch alloys, though our test car is fitted with the optional 20-inch black alloys, paired with a black-with-red-highlights interior treatment, which adds $2000 to the price.

Ours is also fitted with the electric front doors which open or close at the push of a button, and back doors that unlatch, but don’t fully open, the same way, which adds another $2000.

Both trims also get heated and cooled front seats, and heating in the rear window seats, but this AWD version also adds a massage function for front seat riders. 

There’s also wireless charging, a 13-speaker Yamaha sound system and — very cool, literally — is the little drinks fridge between the front seats in the AWD variant.

Tech is handled by a 14.6-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and there’s a head-up display for the driver.

The two GV60 grades share the same 77.4kWh battery pack. The standard all-wheel drive version offers a combined 234kW/605Nm, while the Performance AWD as tested puts out a massive 360kW/700Nm at its peak, using a temporary ‘Boost’ mode.

Suffice it to say this is more than enough power. It’s more powerful than (at a similar price) the BMW iX3, Lexus RZ and Merc EQC and you’ll need to spend significantly more to get into something which can best it from the traditional luxury space.

Perhaps also consider the Tesla Model Y Performance ($91,400) if going absurdly fast in a straight line is what you’re all about.

The big news here is a more powerful rear motor – meaning you get more grunt whether you opt for the rear-wheel drive or this all-wheel drive.

In rear-drive form, that boosts your outputs from 200kW to 250kW, dropping the sprint to 100km/h to 5.6 seconds. In AWD guise, your new outputs are 365kW (up from 315kW) and 573Nm, and your sprint to 100km/h falls to 3.7 seconds.

Driving range for the Performance all-wheel drive is 466km, slightly less than the standard AWD version which can travel 470km between charges.

Again, it’s slightly better than you might expect from its most direct rivals, so an easy win there for Genesis. A 450km+ range is generally enough to be free from ‘range anxiety’ on almost all trips.

One of the reasons the GV60 is able to achieve a better range than its rivals with a similar battery capacity is efficiency. Like other Hyundai Group products, the GV60 is impressive.

Despite its huge power outputs, the official combined cycle energy consumption, according to the more accurate WLTP standard, is 19.1kWh/100km.

And in my time with the SUV, I managed an even better overall number of 18.9kWh/100km over several hundred kilometres of what I would consider ‘mixed’ driving conditions.

Charging is an even better story, with the 800-volt architecture underpinning this car allowing one of the fastest charging times on the market of just 18 minutes (10 - 80 per cent) on a compatible 350kW charger, provided you can find one.

On the far more common 50kW DC units you can expect a 73 minute 10 - 80 percent charge, while on the slower AC standard, the max rate is 11kW, indicating a charge time of around seven hours.

This is where it starts to get weird. The rear-drive Zeekr X is fitted with a 61kWh LFP battery, which can accept up to 230kW DC fast charging, taking you from 10 to 80 per cent charged in just 18 minutes. Total claimed range is 405km.

The flagship AWD, though, charges at a slower rate. It gets a 66kWh NMN battery and can only be charged at 150kW, meaning the same charge takes 30 minutes. Zeekr is promising a 415km driving range between charges.

As someone who has spent significant time with both the Ioniq 5 and EV6, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Genesis take on this formula. I’m happy to say, though, I was pleasantly surprised.

Yes, the GV60 is stupendously fast in a straight line, faster than any car needs to be, but it’s the subtleties which have been built into its ride and handling that make it shine.

While the Ioniq 5 is playful and comfortable, but soft enough it’s sometimes boaty, and the EV6 is hard and determined, but at times a tad harsh and heavy, the GV60 does a remarkable job of uniting the best attributes from its siblings.

The ride is hard enough to grant excellent control and a nice feel for the road, whilst still being forgiving over harder bumps and frequent corrugations. I was particularly surprised to feel its soft edge given its giant 21-inch wheels and slinky performance tyres.

An amount of give in the corners and a traction control system which allows a little slip lets you throw the weight of this car around a bit, mimicking the playful feel of the Ioniq 5. Something which you can enhance if you want by toying with the many soundscapes the GV60 offers.

One of the more surprising things which struck me about driving this EV is how relatively compact it feels. It doesn’t feel as though it has the heft of the EV6 nor the expansive feel of the Ioniq 5. Credit to the brand for making a car with the same chassis and hardware having such a distinct feel.

There’s also the bizarre 'virtual gear shift' feature which has been added for this year’s GV60 update. It makes the electric motors behave as though they’re being channelled through a torque converter transmission.

In the ‘automatic’ mode, the car provides revvy feedback and the feel of shifts between gears, while in the manual mode, the speed will be limited and the gear feedback provided by regen when you lift off, until you shift up.

Bizarre. Can I imagine using this in the day-to-day? Not really, it’s a bit annoying after a while. A gimmick, perhaps, to show your friends.

The same goes for the weird digital wing mirrors, although credit to Genesis, I became used to them quickly. I can’t say the same for the comparatively frustrating digital rear-vision mirrors fitted to Audi’s e-tron.

Unfortunately, they're standard in the GV60. I'd prefer they were optional and live without them.

Yes, it’s tech for tech’s sake. In fact, a lot of things in this car seem to lean this way, but underneath it all there’s a solid electric car, one which manages to unite some of the best features of the Ioniq 5 and EV6 while adding the unique look and feel of the Genesis marque.

Short answer? Pretty good, with some caveats.

I'm partial to a firmer ride. I find some Chinese car companies can feel like they get their suspension bits from Captain Snooze, such is the soft, pillowy ride served up. And to be honest, it makes me a little seasick at times.

The Zeekr is not like that. It has firmness dialled into the ride equation and can feel harsh at times, but also improves the drive experience, delivering connection and engagement at the cost of some sharpness on the wrong road. 

It's also faster than the model it replaces, but it's also one of those cars in which the real-life feeling doesn't quite match the on-paper promise.

This thing serves up supercar speed, but it doesn't feel like it from behind the wheel. Instead, the acceleration - especially from a rolling start - feels potent, but not biblical.

From a standing start it pauses for a moment, almost like an internal-combustion vehicle might, before delivering a quick (but not stratospheric) flow of power. None of that is a bad thing, by the way. Who wants their small SUV to accelerate like a supercar?

It's otherwise an entirely pleasant drive. The cabin is serene and quiet and it's a small car that doesn't feel like one. There's nothing light or tinny about the drive experience, instead there's a heft and quality.

The Zeekr X wears a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, earned in 2024, which means the long list of required active safety stuff is present and accounted for, all wrapped up in what Zeekr calls its 'Intelligent Driving Assist System'.

There are five cameras, five radars and 12 sensors, which is a crazy number for a car this small.

And this is also not a car in which I was desperately trying to figure out how to deactivate any of the active safety systems – save the overzealous over-speed warning – which is a win these days, too. 

There are also seven airbags, including a centre front airbag.

The Zeekr X is fitted with ISOFIX anchors on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions.

Are you ready for a jumble of numbers? Genesis offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, eight years/160,000km for the battery, and 10 years of roadside assistance.

The eyebrow-raising stuff here though is the five years of free servicing, combined with the choice of either a five-year Chargefox subscription or complimentary installation of a home charger.

Yep, theoretically, the GV60 can be free to run for the first five years. Like Lexus, Genesis also offers a complementary loan car at service time.

I don’t think any brand can beat it right now from an ownership perspective.

Zeekr's coverage is an underwhelming five-year, unlimited-kilometres, while the drive battery is covered for eight-years or 160,000km. There’s five years' of roadside assistance thrown in, too.

Service intervals are 20,000km or 12 months, with five years' of ownership setting you back a hefty $3072; an average of $614 per workshop visit.

There are currently 16 Zeekr dealers in Australia - two of which are 'pop-up' sites rather than full retail centres.

Multiple locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with the ACT, Adelaide and Perth also covered. Others include Geelong and the Sunshine Coast but so far you're out of luck in Tassie or the NT.