Most people test-drive a new car around the block. Zeekr would rather hand you the keys in the middle of New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

The premium EV brand has opened bookings for Zeekr On Ice, an exclusive customer event combining luxury hospitality with a full day of ice driving at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds in Queenstown.

The bigger hook is what participants will actually be driving. Alongside Zeekr’s current Australian lineup, guests will get behind the wheel of two models that have not reached local showrooms yet.

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Ice, Power Slides And Unreleased Cars

The Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds is not a gimmick venue. Set high in the Southern Alps, it has become one of the world’s premier winter testing facilities, used by carmakers to push vehicles to their limits in extreme cold-weather conditions.

Zeekr is using it to run guests through a full day of structured ice driving, covering slalom courses, vehicle dynamics exercises, controlled power slides, gymkhana circuits and hot laps with professional instructors.

The cars available on the day include the Zeekr X, 7X and performance-focused 7GT from the current range, plus the upcoming 8X and flagship 9X, both of which are yet to officially arrive in Australia.

Getting seat time in unreleased models before a brand’s local launch is not something most manufacturers offer to retail customers. Zeekr is clearly aware of how that plays for buyers who are still making up their minds about the brand.

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Two Nights At Millbrook And A Helicopter Finish

The driving is the centrepiece, but Zeekr has built the rest of the weekend around it carefully.

Guests stay for two nights at the five-star Millbrook Resort, with premium dinners, concierge transfers and a helicopter flight over the Southern Alps rounding out the experience.

The complete driver package is priced at NZ$5,500 (~$4,600 AUD. Spectator packages start from NZ$1,500 (~$1,250 AUD). Places are strictly limited, and flights to New Zealand are not included.

It is a deliberate way to introduce a brand that is still relatively new to Australian buyers. Showroom visits and test loops around a quiet suburb tell you something about a car.

Two days on ice in Queenstown, in conditions where vehicle dynamics are genuinely exposed, tells you something different. Whether the 8X and 9X can hold their own against more established premium EVs is a question the event is essentially designed to answer before the official launch answers it publicly.

Zeekr is expanding quickly across global markets, and Australia is clearly being treated as a priority rather than an afterthought.

Offering local customers early access to unannounced models in one of the world’s most demanding driving environments is not a small gesture.

It is the kind of thing a brand does when it wants to be taken seriously before the full product range has even arrived.