How many car brands are too many? Can Chinese newcomer Geely sustain all its brands in Australia including Lotus, Polestar, Smart, Volvo and Zeekr | Opinion

Ask Toyota — the world’s biggest carmaker — and two brands are enough.

Yes, Toyota makes trucks under the Hino brand and also has the minnow Daihatsu in its stable, but it is essentially Toyota and Lexus and that’s it.

Part of Toyota’s success in Australia is it sells a vehicle for everyone, and every occasion.

Lexus rarely steps on its big brother’s toes, with a clear premium divide separating the two.

Now Chinese behemoth, Geely, is gearing up for an assault on the Australian market.

It has a strong toehold Down Under with Volvo and Polestar, but after that is where things get murky.

It also has Lotus, Smart, Zeekr and its home brand Geely to forge ahead with in 2025.

Volvo and Polestar have clearly positioned themselves in the luxury space, but Geely, Smart and Zeekr are chasing the same mainstream buyers.

All three are electric only, and are launching with semi-premium compact and mid-size SUVs.

They are essentially the same vehicle underneath a slightly different styled skin. But electric cars all have similar looks, honed for aerodynamics, which gives them all a same-same-ness despite a tweaked non-grille or headlight treatment.

The brands all share motors, batteries and tech features, which helps amortise costs, but can be a challenge when attempting to stand out from the crowd.

Geely recently merged two of its brands, Zeekr and Lynk and Co, to reduce internal competition.

According to Reuters, Geely boss Gui Shengyue said the integration would make the company more competitive.

"If we don't integrate [Zeekr and Lynk], we must face issues such as internal competition ... and redundant investments in many aspects such as R&D, sales, which is stupid," he said according to Reuters.

Geely isn’t alone in crowding its own space.

The huge Volkswagen Group has Volkswagen, Skoda and newcomer Cupra all lobbing cars in a similar price bracket.

The big difference is only Cupra is new, the VW Group isn’t attempting to launch three new brands in the space of 12 months that sell effectively the same cars.

It’ll be a challenge for these three Chinese brands to stand out.

They also face a wave of competition following them across the sea. 

GAC, Aion, Xpeng, Skywell, Leapmotor and Deepal are all planning to launch or have launched into the same market space as their compatriots.

Not to mention established brands such as BYD, Chery, GWM and MG already with a group of loyal buyers and brand cache.

It is starting to feel like China’s car industry is replacing the building industry responsible for towering ghost towns as its biggest economic driver and they need to find export markets quickly to keep the production lines open and the steel mills firing.

Australia is a prime target with its lack of tariffs and relatively close proximity to the Chinese mainland.

There are storm clouds brewing on the edge of the Australia new car market, though.

Electric cars still only make up about 8.3 per cent of new cars bought through the first 11 months of 2024. More EVs have found homes this year than last, but less than 10 per cent is still relatively niche.

Private buyers — generally the ones snapping up EVs — are stepping away from new car purchases at an alarming rate.

Double digit drops in private buyers in each of the past four months compared to the year before is a worrying trend according to the head of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber.

“This is a disturbing trend which illustrates how cost of living pressures are impacting households,” he said.

Only time will tell if these brands can make it work, but it’ll be a tough slog in 2025.