Geely Auto: A guide to everything you need to know

More and more Chinese brands are making the trip to Australia, and Geely is among the latest.

You may know the Geely name as the company that owns several other carmakers like Volvo and Polestar, but it also has a standalone brand that bears the Geely name and badge which has just launched in Australia, kicking things off with an electric SUV to get the ball rolling.

It’s not the first time Geely has sold cars in Australia, as it tried back in 2010 with a sole petrol sedan independently imported and distributed.

This time, the Geely brand has full factory backing from China, and it already has big ambitions among a sea of other Geely-owned cars.

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Though the electric EX5 SUV is currently its sole offering at launch, there’s strong interest from Geely in introducing more electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) to Australia, while also rapidly expanding its dealer network.

First things first though, the EX5 is tasked with getting the Geely brand up and running locally. The first customer delivery took place in mid-March 2025, and the dealer expansion is due to take place before the middle of the year.

Wondering what Geely is all about, especially when there are loads of other Geely-owned cars on the roads? Here’s everything you need to know about Geely Auto in Australia.

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What is Geely Auto?

Before we get to the Geely brand, it’s important to discuss the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the overarching conglomerate that controls its operations. It began when Chinese entrepreneur Li Shufu founded the first company bearing the Geely name in November 1986.

A privately owned company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; Geely began as a refrigerator parts company before moving to motorcycles in 1994 (producing China’s first scooter) and later entering the automotive industry in 1997.

While in that year the company completed the construction of a handful of necessary factories and organised its finances to enter the industry, its first ‘car’ had already appeared in 1996.

The Geely Number 01 was a single prototype made as a clone of the W210 Mercedes-Benz E-Class that utilised the chassis of a CA7200 sedan from fellow Chinese carmaker Hongqi, which itself was a rebadged Audi 100.

Mr Li said in a 2009 interview the Number 01 was a product of his frustration over his country’s lack of a luxury manufacturer, and was a starting point to build such cars. Preparations in 1997 made Geely China’s first private automobile company alongside state-owned brands like Chery, and its first production car was completed in August 1998.

The Geely HQ (Haoqing) was a small hatchback similar to the Daihatsu Charade, powered by a three-cylinder Daihatsu engine. Geely didn’t obtain a national production license until November 2001, which delayed mass production of the Haoqing until 2002.

In 2002 Geely shifted from a family-run business to a professionally managed company, and the overarching Zhejiang Geely Holding Group was established in March 2003. In that year, it launched its first sports car – the Geely BL (Beauty Leopard).

Geely Holding entered a joint venture agreement with fellow Chinese company Guorun Holdings in the same year, which led to Mr Li acquiring controlling shares in Guorun in March 2004 and renaming it Geely Automobile Holding.

For context, Geely is a phonetic transliteration of the company’s Chinese name 吉利 (pronounced jílì), which can mean “auspicious”.

Geely, as a car brand, then became separated from Zhejiang Geely Holding’s other ventures. Confusingly, Geely Auto Group, which is responsible for the Geely namesake brand and several other brands like Proton, falls under the Geely Automobile Holdings umbrella alongside Zeekr Intelligent Technology, which itself controls two individual car brands – Zeekr and Lynk & Co.

The larger Geely Holding group is still responsible for Geely Automobile Holdings and has controlled other major brands like Volvo and Lotus since 2010 and 2017, respectively. Geely Holding has also collaborated with Mercedes-Benz in a 50-50 joint venture for the Smart brand since 2020.

The Geely Auto Group’s next challenge was to grow as a company. Mr Li’s establishment of Geely Automobile Holdings was seen as a way into the Hong Kong stock market and helped the company raise funds.

Geely had made an important decision concerning a Chinese government move that caused a sharp decline in the country’s automotive industry. The company invested massively in starting independent research and development efforts, which led to improvements in the quality of its vehicles and its economy car sales from 2003 to 2004.

International efforts continued to grow too, as Geely exported its first cars overseas in 2003 and made appearances at the 2005 Frankfurt Auto Show and 2006 Detroit Auto Show.

In 2005, Geely was also able to work with a subcontracted local engineering partner to reverse engineer a Toyota Aygo city car and develop its similar Geely LC for a 2008 release– as revealed in a mildly negative Reuters report on the Chinese car industry in 2012.

Geely shifted its approach in the coming years to focus on technology, quality and service instead of competing on price, which helped it survive the 2008 global financial crisis.

2008 saw Geely introduce new turbocharged petrol engines, and in the same year it launched a new entry-level brand named Gleagle.

It was around this time Geely first entered the Australian market. Sold in the 2010 and 2011 model years, the Geely MK – a reverse-engineered Toyota Vios that resembled an Opel Astra – was available through an independent distributor as both a sedan and hatch with a naturally aspirated petrol engine and manual gearbox only. It’s still listed on industry guide Redbook at $11,990 drive-away when new.

Geely then introduced the Emgrand and Englon brands in 2010, the latter of which was intended to appear like a classically British brand, and even sold a London taxi called the TX4. This was a precursor to Geely acquiring the struggling London EV Company (LEVC) in 2013, under which it now produces London’s black taxicabs.

In 2011, Geely appointed former Volvo designer Peter Horbury to lead the design work of its Borui sedan, which launched in 2015 as the first vehicle in Geely’s so-called 3.0 era. Preceding that were the 1.0 and 2.0 eras, which supposedly focused on machinery and electronics, respectively. The 3.0 era was centred around intelligence.

From 2013 to 2014 Geely struggled with declining sales and outdated technology, leading it to restructure its brands and merge its Emgrand, Haoqing, and Englon nameplates into the Geely umbrella to simplify its product lineup.

What followed were the 3.0-era cars including the aforementioned Borui in 2015 and the Boyue in 2016, alongside the Emgrand ES and Emgrand GL.

Geely Auto unveiled the Lynk & Co brand in Berlin in late 2016, intended to sit between the Geely namesake brand and Volvo in the group’s pecking order. Geely Auto acquired a majority stake in the brand in 2017, with Volvo and Geely Holding sharing the remaining 30 and 20 per cent each.

2018 saw Geely Auto enter its 4.0 era, which brought about new models like the Geely Xingrui and Xingyue with new hybrid powertrains. The company managed to increase its market share despite a market decline, recording strong sales from 2018 to 2019.

It launched a dedicated EV brand named Geometry in early 2019, which later amalgamated with Geely Auto in 2023 to become the Geely Geometry model line. In 2021, Geely founded Zeekr, and in 2022 the company rolled out its refreshed and simplified corporate identity in conjunction with the 2022 Asian Games.

In 2023, Geely launched its new Geely Galaxy product line as its first mass-market series of new energy vehicles – this would soon be its gateway to markets like Australia.

The first model in this series was the Galaxy L7 plug-in hybrid (PHEV), an SUV with the latest in Geely’s powertrain and interior tech. The L6 PHEV sedan followed, and in 2024 the Galaxy brand unveiled its first dedicated EV in the form of the E8 sedan.

Then came the Geely Galaxy E5 electric SUV in July 2024, which would be renamed the Geely EX5 in export markets – including Australia, and so we’ll henceforth refer to it as the EX5. It’s also sold as the Proton eMas 7 in Malaysia.

The EX5 was reportedly the first model Geely developed in left- and right-hand drive simultaneously, which pointed to a greater focus on export markets. Chinese Galaxy E5 sales commenced in August 2024, while Malaysia received its eMas 7 shortly after.

Its EX5 export name was confirmed in September 2024, along with the announcement that Geely would sell it in markets like Australia, Norway, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The Geely EX5 arrived in Australian showrooms in March 2025, and the first customer received their keys shortly after. Geely is also making its renewed local charge with full factory backing, opting to avoid repeating the short-lived 2010 attempt, and following rival BYD in going through a local third-party distributor.

While there are already plenty of Geely-owned models on sale in Australia from the likes of Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, and Zeekr, the EX5 is the first model (since the MK) to be sold here under the Geely name itself.

In late 2024, a major restructuring took place under Geely Holding. Geely Auto received Geely Holding’s 11.3 per cent stake in Lynk & Co to increase its ownership to 62.8 per cent, while Zeekr received a 20 per cent stake in Lynk & Co from Geely Auto and a 30 per cent stake from Volvo for a total of more than 9 billion Chinese yuan, securing a 51 per cent majority stake.

Geely Auto retained 49 per cent, while the electric pickup-truck brand Radar Auto (otherwise known as Riddara) was integrated into Geely Auto.

As of 2024, Geely Auto operates 11 manufacturing facilities, all located in mainland China. The EX5 is produced at the Guiyang plant located in Guiyang, Guizhou, which has an annual capacity of 150,000 units.

In Australia, Geely plans to operate 22 dealerships nationwide by mid-2025, while it’s also gearing up to launch more than six new vehicles in the next three years. The first will reportedly be a PHEV version of the EX5.

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What can you currently buy from Geely Auto?

There’s only one Geely-branded car on sale in Australia right now: the EX5 electric SUV.

Two variants are available in Australia – Complete and Inspire – and both are fully electric. Just one electric motor setup is available: a 160kW unit driving the front wheels only.

This produces 160kW and 320Nm in both variants, and both use the same 60.22kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. Claimed WLTP range is 430km in the Complete and 410km in the Inspire.

Its pricing was previously leaked on industry guide Redbook nearly one month before any official announcement, though that was $2500 more expensive than Geely’s eventual confirmation.

That makes it $1000 more than the smaller BYD Atto 3 Essential, and thousands less than other mid-sized electric SUVs like the top-selling Tesla Model Y.

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Which brands does Geely Auto compete against?

In Australia, Geely is competing with not only electric SUV segment leaders like Tesla, but also other Chinese upstarts like Leapmotor, Deepal, and Xpeng – not to mention the powerhouse of BYD.

Three of those Chinese rivals also only have one electric SUV each. Leapmotor sells the C10 here for either $45,888 or $49,888 before on-roads and it has a nearly identical claimed WLTP driving range, making it a logical competitor.

Leapmotor will also soon add a range-extender (EREV) variant, which would rival an EX5 PHEV. A PHEV EX5 could also be matched against the GWM Haval H6 GT PHEV.

Then there’s the larger Deepal S07, which is more expensive at $53,900 before on-roads but can travel further with a claimed WLTP range of 475km.

At the top of the three is the Xpeng G6 for either $54,800 or $59,800 before on-roads, which matches the S07’s dimensions and has a maximum claimed range of 570km on the WLTP cycle.

BYD, meanwhile, is best matched with its new Sealion 7, which joins an already-established lineup in Australia. It’s on par with the G6 at either $54,990 or $63,990 before on-roads and has a claimed WLTP range of up to 482km, though it’s larger than the other Chinese SUVs mentioned.

You could also compare the smaller and less luxurious BYD Atto 3, which costs either $39,990 or $44,990 before on-roads with a claimed WLTP range as high as 420km. It’s also one of the models Geely benchmarked its EX5 against, the other being the Tesla Model 3 sedan.

Given the Tesla Model Y has been the Australian electric SUV leader for some time, it’s still worth a mention. In its current guise, it costs between $55,900 and $82,900 before on-roads and can supposedly travel as far as 533km on the WLTP cycle.

Its incoming update is well out of range of the EX5 though, starting from $58,900 in its most affordable form with driving range of 466-551km on the WLTP cycle depending on variant.

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How popular is Geely Auto in Australia?

As no sales figures have been released for the EX5 as Australian customer deliveries only began two weeks before this article was published, it’s difficult to gauge Geely’s popularity.

Given its incredibly sharp pricing, Geely has made it clear it’s gunning for volume with the EX5 EV. For context, BYD managed to sell 5751 Atto 3s throughout 2024, which is only $1000 cheaper than the EX5 and is physically smaller.

That could offset Geely’s current anonymity in Australia and cement a strong foothold in the local market. It’s also expressed strong interest in bringing upwards of six models to Australia in the coming years, with a clear focus on selling EVs and PHEVs to expand its portfolio.

The brand’s benchmarks for the EX5 – the BYD Atto 3 and Tesla Model 3 – show it’s keen to offer something buyers could genuinely consider instead of the segment leaders. That’s especially true in the case of the Atto 3 which, like the EX5 is to current Geely, was the first BYD car to be sold in Australia.

Geely has also said it’ll expand its Australian dealer network to 22 locations by mid-2025 to support its local efforts.

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What’s next for Geely Auto?

As mentioned, Geely’s immediate focus – especially in Australia – is to cement its foothold in a market that’s becoming increasingly flooded with new Chinese brands.

There will be more than six new Geely models making their way to local showrooms in the next three years in the footsteps of the EX5, and the company has outlined it is committed to selling both EVs and PHEVs.

Previous reports suggest the next Geely coming to Australia will be the Galaxy Starship 7, which is just the PHEV version of the E5 overseas that’s sold as the EX5 here. As of March 2025, neither its Australian name nor a launch date has been confirmed, though it could arrive here before the end of the year.

Beyond that, it’s unclear what the other Australia-bound Geely models will be. It’s understood that they will likely be vehicles from the Geely Galaxy brand, as was the EX5.

In China, Geely Galaxy also currently offers a range of sedans like the L6 and E8, the L7 small SUV, and LEVC L380 people mover, among other smaller vehicles from the former Geometry brand that became a dedicated line of Geely-branded models in 2023.

The Geely namesake brand will also bolster its efforts by opening 22 new dealers later this year, focusing on branching out into cities and regional areas.

Geely has also confirmed it’ll be bringing a ute to Australia in the form of Radar Auto (or Riddara in some markets), though it’s not clear whether it’ll be a Geely-branded model or a standalone marque.

In any case, the Geely namesake brand is just one of six brands in Australia owned by the overarching Geely Holding. The others are Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Smart, and Zeekr, while Radar Auto could soon be another to join the fray.

“At present, the positioning of different Geely brands in the Australian market requires further alignment,” vice president of Geely Auto, Michael Song, told CarExpert, suggesting there will be some rethinking in terms of the positioning of the brands and their price positioning for Australia.

“Each brand must continually assess market demands and make adjustments accordingly. We anticipate that completing full cross-brand integration will take some time.”

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