Geely News

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 , 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.

Geely has locked in an Australian launch for the first half of next year. But the brand hasn’t pledged to be all-electric and its new Galaxy Starship 7 plug-in hybrid family SUV could prove a major headache for the BYD Sealion and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.That’s because the Galaxy Starship 7’s generous 19kWh lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack allows up to 120km of electric-only driving range, which is paired with the 82kW petrol engine, bringing combined driving range to 1420km (CLTC) between a charge and fill.For reference, the electric-only range of the BYD Sealion 6 is 92km, while the updated Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is 86km. These figures are WLTP rated and the CLTC numbers quoted by Geely are typically more generous.The Galaxy L7 is fitted with Geely’s ‘NordThor EM-i Super Hybrid’ set-up, while there are no combined outputs yet, the electric motor will do the heavy lifting at 160kW/262Nm. Geely claims a 0-100km/h sprint of 7.5 seconds and 180km/h top speed. Plug-in hybrid driving range has become the new battleground for Chinese car makers. BYD’s soon-to-launch DM-i set-up claims 2000km in a sleek sedan while XPeng, Chery and others are also getting into the plug-in hybrid game.Dimensions of the Galaxy L7 PHEV put it firmly in the medium SUV segment, with the five-seater measuring 4740mm long, 1905mm wide and 1685mm tall with a 2750mm wheelbase. The drag coefficient is 0.29Cd.Inside there’s a 13.8-inch head-up display, 10.2-inch digital driver’s display, 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen, 16-speaker sound system, V2L and ‘Marshmallow’ seats with 14-point massaging, heating and ventilation. Chinese car making giant Geely partly or fully owns several marques including Lotus, Volvo, Smart, Polestar, Lynk & Co and Zeekr and will make an entrance in Australia next year with its EX5, expected to be a cut-price alternative to a Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5. Geely has a past in Australia, which quickly came to an end about a decade ago. Come half one 2025 when the EX5 launches, it is looking for more staying power. A plug-in hybrid like the Galaxy L7 could be just the ticket. 

Geely is gearing up to launch its first electric car in Australia. 

Chinese car brands are rolling out new and improved products at an astonishing rate.

Australia is bracing itself for a multitude of electric cars to arrive from new brands and we’ve just had a peek at Geely’s latest Galaxy L7 SUV, which we could be driving on our roads in the next 12 months.

Geely-owned car brand Lynk & Co has revealed the compact 02 coupe SUV in Europe this week, another potential addition to Geely's growing Australian catalogue.

Another week, another new car company joins the Australian market.

Chinese brands are battling it out for plug-in hybrid supremacy.

It's official: Geely has announced its arrival into the Australian market, starting with an electric mid-size SUV.

Geely already operates at a large scale in Australia, but currently hides behind a diverse array of brands.