08/02/2026

Contributing Editor Keshy Dhillon / keshy@piston.my Editorial

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SUNDAY | FEB 8, 2026

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BY DINESH APPAVU “THE era of Chinese cars is almost upon us.” No, not only has that new world order already landed on our shores, it has well and truly established itself as a force majeure in the global automotive land scape. Don’t believe us? Just take a look around our roads during your daily com mute. It is a genuine challenge to drive for more than five minutes without crossing paths with a car that hails from the mid dle kingdom, especially in the Klang Valley. The numbers do not lie. They under score the weight of the wave that has struck the legacy automotive shores worldwide. During a recent media event, the CEO of Proton shared that 21 Chinese brands have launched or re-entered Malaysia over the last few years, spawning 58 mod els with the majority of them being EVs. That is a staggering figure given that prior to the influx of Chinese carmakers, the local scene would see around 50-60 new or facelifted model introductions from the existing brands. Furthermore, jokes about their cars being cosmetic duplicates of legacy brands now just fall flat. Chinese carmakers have far exceeded being on par with the rest of the world, they are now leaving these legacy brands in their wake. While Chinese carmakers might appear to be a dime a dozen due to sheer volume, they are very much taking the fight to the rest of the industry. Just take a look at the recent Malaysia Car of the Year (MCOTY) 2025 awards. No less than eight Chinese models won, and we are not even including the rebadged ones sold here. Still not convinced? The Overall MCOTY 2025 winner was from China, the Zeekr 009 Ultra Luxury. Zeekr is one of those brands that are not just keeping pace with the rest of the industry, the new marque is trailblazer that has pushed the envelope to the point of reinventing the modern car as we know it. While we have yet to get some proper seat time cosseted in the lush captain’s chairs of the 009, we did have an oppor tunity to sample its sibling, the award winning Zeekr 7X AWD Performance. In the very same MCOTY 2025 awards, the flagship 7X variant came out tops as the SUV of the Year (RM200,000 to RM500,000). And given the esteemed list of peers it went up against, that was no mean feat and proves how well rounded the car is. LOOKING THE PART Gone are the days Chinese cars looked like xeroxed versions of European models on a pixelated printer. Zeekr’s global design studio and engineering depart ment are located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Naturally, that has imbued the 7X with a very distinct continental feel throughout its construction an+d styling. Sculpted would best describe its lines. They are clean with minimal fuss and to a certain degree, can be labelled a classic

Front seat.

Back seat.

Close but no cigar Zeekr 7X AWD Performance is good but can it be called great?

Sun shade.

Trunk cover.