► Volvo owner Geely borrows CMA platform
► New mid-size Geely Preface saloon concept
► Set to make production in 2020
You might know Geely as Volvo’s owner but it has its own cars too – and this was very much in evidence on home turf at the 2019 Shanghai motor show, where it unveiled the new Geely Preface saloon – and a separate standalone electric sub-brand.
The Geely Preface concept: in detail
‘The Preface has a wider grille at the front and a car-wide chrome bar at the back to emphasise the car’s width,’ Guy Burgoyne, Geely’s VP for design in China, said.
Burgoyne’s boss, Peter Horbury who is overall executive VP of design for the Geely Group, is enthused by the rate of development in China. Indeed, Horbury says the Preface will morph into a compact production saloon to cover that class by 2020 and would not be a replacement for any existing Geely model.
If even 70% of this design is retained, it should be a strong contender in China. Currently, neither of these Geelys have an on-sale date scheduled for Europe though.
Geely: big aspirations for acquisitive Chinese giant
The Chinese group parent of Volvo and London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), plus now Lotus (and Proton), has big ambitions to become a top 10 global vehicle maker.
It is currently the third biggest player in China and 13th in the world – with sales of 2.2 million units in 2018. At the Shanghai show it also revealed a smart new full-electric sub-brand called Geometry with deployable-on-demand flush door handles and a genuinely upmarket interior.
Read more about the Geometry here