On our trip to Shanghai auto show facilitated by Zeekr, my colleague Scooter and I got to see an unbelievable amount of EVs from 20+ makers, many of which we’d never heard of. Each maker offered an incredible array of models but one in particular stood out to me: the Lynk & Co 900.
One thing I love about this Plug-in Hybrid is that it has a relatively huge battery and could be ridden fully electric, outside of road trips. The two 45-52kWh battery options provide somewhere between 220 and 280 km of range using China’s optimistic calculator. That’s 137 – 174 miles of EV range before the gas motor kicks in and about six times the average daily commute.
Zeekr, Lynk & Co’s sister company, has an even bigger battery, but gawdier PHEV with a 380km/236 mile range before the gas kicks in. At this point, we are really talking about an EV with a range extender.
As with many Chinese luxury vehicles, the second row seats really stood out. They are as comfortable as a laz-y-boy and offer to electronically spin around 360 degrees to make the 2nd and 3rd row a conference area. I nearly fell asleep in them a few times. OK I did but that’s because of jet lag or something. I can’t get over how futuristic the back of this car is.
Lynk & Co 900 is 524 cm long, 199 cm wide, 181 cm high and has a wheelbase of 316 cm and uses the SPA Evo modular architecture.
The drive is smooth and quick and never once did that petroleum engine kick in.
The 900 comes with standard roof-mounted LiDAR, with higher-priced variants powered by Nvidia’s Thor smart driving chip enabling door-to-door navigation with G-Pilot H7.
Its sleek body isn’t just for looks as it hits the wind tunnel with an impressive drag coefficient of 0.291 Cd. It also boasts a top tier 0-100 km/h in 4.3 seconds.
Lynk & Co is making waves with its upcoming 900 model, which has already received over 40,000 pre-orders ahead of its official launch on April 28. Built on the SPA Evo architecture, the six-seater combines class-leading 88.2% space efficiency with innovative 180-degree rotating second-row seats, targeting premium family buyers seeking versatile cabin configurations. The intelligent cockpit features front and rear 30-inch 6K displays driven by dual Qualcomm 8295 chips, delivering 60 TOPS computing power for eight-screen coordination via the LYNK Flyme Auto system. Powering the SUV is a 2.0T plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain with 3-speed DHT Pro transmission and dual rear motors, generating 650kW total output to achieve 0-100km/h acceleration in 4.3 seconds – positioning the 900 as one of the fastest electrified SUVs in its segment.
Top comment by Sacto Lifer
ELON MUSK
Jan 25, 2024
“Our observation is, generally, that the Chinese car companies are the most competitive car companies in the world. So, I think they will have significant success outside of China, depending on what kind of tariffs or trade barriers are established. Frankly, I think that if there are not trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world. So, they’re extremely good"
Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas said
"We believe that Western auto firms (including Tesla) have come to a unanimous and simultaneous realization: China has won the contest for EV supremacy,”
From this point, the industry is likely to enter a new phase of capex spend (lower), protectionism (higher) and cooperation with China (eventual).”
It turns out that there are other similar vehicles from other Chinese makers including the Li L9, Denza N9 and Aito M9.
Electrek’s take:
The Lynk & Co 900 is the Chinese EV market in a nutshell: 90% of the car at half the price of its western rivals. Compare to a Range Rover, Rivian R1S, the upcoming Scout, Hyundai Ioniq 7 or a Kia EV9 and it is hard to imagine how well these would sell in the US and Europe.
Something else I love to see is a huge battery PHEV with enough range for reasonable daily tasks before the gas engine kicks in. Scout has a similar idea so we might get to try something similar in the US.
Even in China Lynk&co has noted it had 40,000 pre-orders before launch, so I think this is going to be a popular vehicle. I don’t think, even with the bananas current trade climate, this one will show up in the US. Europe on the other hand might want to keep an eye out however.
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