►New brand from the owners of Volvo…
► …Lynk & Co, Lotus and Polestar
► Chinese market-only EV sub-brand
Geely has continued its slow, silent takeover of the car industry by launching an altogether new brand. Called Geometry – and designed primarily just for the Chinese market – it’s an EV marque designed to offer value for money at a less premium price point.
The brand kicks off with the A, an interesting-looking saloon that’ll come in both long- and standard-range versions. And by 2025, Geometry will launch nine further models, covering all the important sectors, from SUV to MPV.
It’s all part of Geely’s plan to become a top 10 global vehicle maker. It is currently the third biggest in China and 13th in the world with sales of 2.2 million units in 2018.
So what’s the Geometry like up close?
We were at the world debut of the Geometry at the 2019 Shanghai motor show and gave it a good going-over. The exterior is a slightly typical EV production fiver-seat saloon with a closed-mouth front instead of an open grille and various concave creases and feature lines on the sides. The visible front camera under the badge is a little weird, too, looking for all the world like a small tow hook.
But open the deployable-on-demand flush door handles and a genuinely upmarket interior awaits inside. The cabin is much stronger by comparison and more upmarket, with hexagonal motifs on the outer edges of the upper dashboard – some of which are functional air vents (see below) – and touch-sensitive, back-lit buttons hidden under the surface of the centre console that which can be pressed into life.
The car has just gone on sale already for 150,000 RMB (about £17,000) to the Chinese market and offers two battery electric ranges of 410km and 500km ranges.
Back to the EV
First the Polestar 1 and 2, then the Lynk & Co 03 – and now the Geometry A; Geely doesn’t like thinking outside the box when it names its cars, does it? Either way, the Geometry A has competitive specs on paper. One car will come with 51.9kWh battery and the other with a 61.9kWh unit. That equates to 255 miles NEDC for the standard car and 310 miles for the long-range version.
You’ll get a max of 161bhp (120kW) of power, along with 184lb ft of torque, and it’ll take 8.8 seconds to get from 0 to 62mph.
Fast charging means you can go from 30% charge to 80% in just 30 minutes, and a drag coefficient of just 0.2375cd, means it’s doing its best to make that energy last.
Prices
Although it looks to be Chinese only, we can still make out some prices. The top-of-the-range-capacity A costs around £28,000 before subsidies, while the top-end standard range model retails at circa £26,000.
Further electric car reading
The best electric cars and EVs on sale today
How much does it cost to charge an electric car?
Future electric cars: upcoming EVs to look out for