Lynk & Co 01

While the exterior design of the Lynk & Co 01 might be polarizing in general, the interior cabin of the crossover certainly isn’t. The overall interior design looks easy to the eye and has a certain amount of classiness to it.

The broad looking four-spoke multi-functional steering wheel looks quite unique with its golden finished lower spokes, which stand out in the all-black cabin. The full TFT instrument console looks too futuristic with its innovative colored graphical displays.

There is a large rounded rectangular touchscreen infotainment system, above which are placed rounded rectangular AC vents and aluminum finished surrounds for the transmission tunnel below it. The entire center console is slightly tilted towards the driver's side. There are further golden and aluminium touches on the passenger side of the dashboard and door pads.

There are no two ways about the fact that how distinctive and quirky the Lynk & Co 01 looks in actual. For a midsize crossover, the Lynk & Co 01 has got a good stance and road presence, however, the off-beat styling of it might not be appreciable by all and might take some time to get used to.

At the front, the Lynk & Co 01 tries to look wide and huge, with a large horizontally laid front grille, which gets a chrome lining at the top of it and gets trapezoidal-shaped full LED headlamps adjacent to it. There are additional LED lamps placed above the main headlamps on the front bonnet, shaped in the form of a teardrop. There are slim body cladding and a silver skid plate at the bottom of the front bumper.

From the side, the Lynk & Co 01 has a slight amount of conventional appeal, with smooth contours extending from the front bonnet and flowing through sideways. The chrome garnish on the upper boundaries of the side windows merge well with the sides of the rear windscreen, and in the midway, gives the crossover a floating roof effect, with the roof and portions of A and C pillars finished in black. 

At the back, the Lynk & Co 01 has got a hammer-head shaped panel, which consists of a large gloss black finished boot garnish with the brand’s name embossed on it. The ends of this black garnish get L-shaped tail lamps, with diamond-like LED inserts on the far corners of the tail lamps. The rakish windscreen and large roof spoiler enhance the sporty appeal of the crossover from the back.

The Lynk & Co 01 shares its compact modular architecture from its distant sibling from Sweden owned by the same Geely which owns it as well – the Volvo XC40. The overall suspension as well as steering setup is kept on a softer edge to make sure that the Lynk & Co 01 feels subtle and plush to drive and be in when driven in urban conditions.

The Lynk & Co 01 comes with a petrol-electric powertrain under its hood, which is a combination of a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with a lithium-ion battery. The combined output of this powertrain, which is coupled to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, stands at 197 PS of maximum power and 345 Nm of peak torque.

With top-spec features like Forward Collision Warning, Autonomous Emergency Brake, Adaptive Cruise Control, Pedestrian Detection with automatic emergency braking, Lane Departure Warning and Blind Spot Detection, apart from conventional ones like the front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD, traction control, electronic stability program, front and rear parking sensors and a 360-degree camera, the Lynk & Co 01 feels pretty sorted on the front of safety.

For those who value the inclusion of more and more technologies in vehicles, particularly the younger generation of buyers, the Lynk & Co 01 feels like a fresh breeze, with its innovative approach in styling and mechanicals under the skin.