Geely plans to arrive in Spain in 2018 with an SUV based on Volvo technology

The Chinese manufacturer Geely Automobile, whose parent company, the conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, currently owns Volvo, plans to launch its first vehicle in several European countries, including Spain, in 2018. The news was published this week by the agency Reuters, based on information revealed by two executives of the Asian company. One of them left the company recently, and neither wished to be identified because they are not authorized to comment on Geely’s future plans.

The model with which the Hangzhou-based brand hopes to debut in our country will be an SUV based on the new modular CMA platform – in English, Compact Modular Architecture – which Volvo will use in its future C-segment products, the V40 and XC40. The engines that will power this vehicle will also be the result of joint development between the Chinese consortium and the Swedish manufacturer. One of the executives states that Geely will present it in 2017 at the Geneva Motor Show or the one in Beijing.

The EC7 saloon inaugurated in 2009 the now-defunct sub-brand Emgrand, under which Geely sold several models until 2014.

In Europe it will be offered with a plug-in hybrid system that helps improve the brand’s image.Its sales will first begin in China at the start of 2017, where it will initially be available with a petrol engine. It will reach Europe a year later, and will do so with a plug-in hybrid system. The goal, according to one of the executives, is to convey to European consumers that a Chinese product can combine a competitive price with the latest technology.

In addition to Spain, Geely will try its luck in other markets such as the British one – which it had planned to enter in 2012 – the Italian, the Portuguese and certain countries in Eastern Europe. The same source argued that its consumers have proven to be less reluctant toward little-known foreign car brands, while others, such as those in Germany or France, are much more demanding, leaving little room for survival in the medium and long term.

The EX7 was Geely’s first SUV and, like the EC7 and other products, was available outside China in countries such as Chile.

If the European venture yields positive results, the company will consider trying its luck in the US.The strategy devised by Geely for Europe involves creating its own dealerships instead of sharing space with those of Volvo. In a first phase, a limited number of them will be opened, in order to have enough time to promote the company properly.

Should this stage be successful and Geely’s SUV be well received in these countries, its range of versions will be expanded with conventional combustion engines. Furthermore, Europe will serve as a testing ground before Geely decides whether to later take on the United States, a country whose automotive market is governed by safety standards that are even more stringent than the European ones.

With the GC9, Geely has reached a higher level of build quality and debuts a more evolved aesthetic language.

This SUV will be Geely’s second model linked to Volvo. The first was the GC9, a saloon shown at the Canton Motor Show in 2014, whose design was handled by Peter Horbury, a former head of that department at the Gothenburg-based manufacturer.

Source | Reuters