On November 6, the Geely Galaxy Global User Music Carnival and Geely Xingyuan 1 Million Achievement Fan Appreciation Rights Launch Event was held in Hangzhou. Within 24 months of launch, Geely Xingyuan's cumulative sales surpassed 1 million units, selling one vehicle in less than a minute, becoming the fastest new energy vehicle globally to reach 1 million sales, reshaping the competitive landscape of the global pure electric small car market in the form of a phenomenon-level hit.

In response to the trust and expectations of million users, Geely Xingyuan launched the STAR Limited Series new models — STAR Ace and STAR Chill, with a limited-time special price of 88,800 Yuan; At the same time, the "Million Achievement Fan Appreciation Rights" were also released at the conference. Users logging into the Geely Galaxy App to participate in the lucky draw have a chance to win rewards such as Grandpa's Tea milk tea vouchers, Geely Xingyuan 1 Million Sales Commemorative Medals, Geely Xingyuan Vehicle Ecology Practical Goodies, Capybara Healing IP Peripherals, and other gifts. Geely Xingyuan responds to the trust and expectations of million users with continuous product value renewal and always-online user rights.

From Hit to Benchmark: Two Years of Hot Sales of 1 Million, Geely Xingyuan Redefines "Global Speed"

Launched in October 2024, Geely Xingyuan accumulated sales of over 1 million units in just two years, selling one vehicle in less than a minute. The choice of million users has made the reputation of the "National God Car" firmer and set a new benchmark for the global small car market.

Geely Xingyuan's leadership is not an accident of monthly highs, but a stable performance spanning multiple sales cycles. After winning the 2025 China Auto Market All-Category Model Sales Champion, Geely Xingyuan sold a cumulative 249,418 units in the first half of 2026, up 21% year-on-year, retaining the title of the best-selling model in the Chinese market. Entering the second half, the sales rhythm of Geely Xingyuan continued to accelerate. August and September single-month sales continuously broke 60,000 units, and October broke 70,000 units, creating a new historical high for single-month sales. Brand-unrestricted, energy-unrestricted, class-unrestricted, Geely Xingyuan always maintained the role of sales champion without any qualifiers, dominating the Chinese auto market.

The leadership in the domestic market also extends to global recognition. Australia, UK, France... Geely Xingyuan has landed in more than 30 countries globally, ranking in the TOP 2 of Chinese New Energy Hatchback Model Exports in January-June 2026. It successively won the Thailand EV Sales Champion, Egypt A&B class pure electric sales champion for 2 consecutive months, Mexico All-Category Pure Electric Second Place for 3 consecutive months. Launched in Australia only two months ago, it retained the Hatchback Pure Electric Sales Champion. Geely Xingyuan galloping on the streets globally has become a new global name card for "China Intelligence", extending the value of million sales from domestic to overseas.

Million New Starting Point: Two STAR Limited Series Models Launched, Million Fan Appreciation Rights Released Simultaneously

1 million units represent 1 million beautiful lifestyles. At this conference, the two STAR Limited Series new models launched by Geely Xingyuan are a direct response to young users' personalized needs. Among them, STAR Ace offers three car colors: Worry-Free Green, Pepsi Orange, and Flowing Silver; STAR Chill uses Milk Salt Beige car color with new interior design. Both new models are equipped with the same level's only electric front trunk and EVA robot, integrating personalized expression and daily convenience into the driving experience. In terms of purchase rights, users purchasing the two new models can enjoy a 3,000 Yuan Super Replacement Subsidy and a limited-time 4,099 Yuan STAR Exclusive Gift Pack.

At the same time as launching the new models, Geely Xingyuan also released the "Million Achievement Fan Appreciation Rights": All million users can log into the Geely Galaxy App to participate in the lucky draw, covering Grandpa's Tea milk tea vouchers, Geely Xingyuan 1 Million Sales Commemorative Medals, Geely Xingyuan Vehicle Ecology Goodies, Capybara Healing IP Peripherals, and Charging Service Fee Discount Coupons. Meeting personalized needs and caring for daily driving details has become the way Geely Xingyuan stays together with users for a long time.

It is worth noting that, around constantly changing aesthetic preferences and travel scenarios, the Geely Xingyuan STAR Limited Series will continue to renew, launching more new models and new experiences, allowing every lifestyle to find a matching choice.

220,000 km On-Duty Vehicle Test: Long-term Reliability is the Quality Bottom Line of "Million Sales"

Visible configurations can be caught up, but invisible foundations cannot be mastered in a hurry. The confidence in refreshing global sales speed comes from product quality that can withstand the dual test of time and mileage. Geely Xingyuan, in joint testing with China Automotive Technology and Research Center, conducted a real test on a 310 km Dream Edition on-duty vehicle driven by users for 220,000 km, focusing the inspection on the real state after long-term user usage.

Under comprehensive road conditions with energy-saving mode and air conditioning turned off, the on-duty vehicle driven for 220,000 km had a test range achievement rate of 99.7%. Geely Xingyuan standardizes CATL cells and liquid cooling temperature control systems for the entire series, verifying the stability of the three-electric support. The 78.1 km/h Moose Test result, handling stability is superior to most same-level new cars; Under the support of rear-engine rear-drive layout, front MacPherson and rear multi-link independent suspension, and Lotus tuning, Geely Xingyuan shows stable and controllable chassis foundation even after long-term use.

Around long-term vehicle battery safety, the on-duty vehicle simultaneously underwent six major battery limit serial tests, covering battery health at the pack level, high-temperature baking, seawater soaking, and vehicle-level low-temperature charging/discharging, bottom impact, double needle puncture. Test results show that after 220,000 km of high-intensity use, Geely Xingyuan battery health is 91.19%, far exceeding the strict national standard of 70% for 200,000 km; Its equipped Shen Dun Battery Safety System's safety design under multiple strict working conditions has been systematically verified. Rectangular aluminum battery protection cabin and double-well rear subframe physical reinforcement protection, coordinating liquid cooling temperature control system and BMS 3.0 Battery Doctor for temperature management and status monitoring, build multiple guarantees from structure to operation.

From the very beginning of launch, with disruptive user insights and product definitions, raising the entire A0 Class small car category standard, to gaining million user recognition in 2 years, Geely Xingyuan supports "High Quality and Good Price" with long-term reliability and cross-class experience, leading A0 Class pure electric small cars towards a new era.

Continuously Extend Million Goodness: Partnering with Users to Launch "Our Xingyuan" Season 3

At the moment cumulative sales crossed 1 million units, another promise between Geely Xingyuan and users continues — "Our Xingyuan" public welfare project, originated from the shared wish of the launch with car owners. Season 1, Season 2, in Daliang Mountain, Sichuan and Qiannan, Guizhou, Geely Xingyuan and car owners built basketball courts and football fields for children, allowing mountain teenagers to touch dreams while running and realize wishes. Season 3, "Our Xingyuan" comes along with the songs of the Va Hills.

In Masan Village, Ximeng County, Pu'er, Yunnan, the "Little Sparrow Choir" has a group of children who love Va songs, dreaming of singing ethnic songs to a bigger stage. This wish also touches Geely Xingyuan owners. To fulfill the owners' wish, Geely Xingyuan donated to build "Our Xingyuan Music Classroom" and invited children to Hangzhou to perform on stage with Lang Lang. Besides the performance, Lang Lang also provided music guidance face-to-face for children and opened a masterclass. From donating music classrooms to stepping onto the big stage, Geely Xingyuan responded to owners' wishes with a wish-fulfilling action, and let children's Va song dreams land under the witness of million users.

Standing at the new starting point of 1 million units, Geely Xingyuan will continue to start from user needs, respond to every beautiful life with continuously advanced products, and take on every trust with long-term reliable quality. From the fastest new energy vehicle globally to reach 1 million sales, to the common choice of the next million users, Geely Xingyuan will always walk with users with champion strength, showing the world the speed, quality, and sincerity of Chinese new energy vehicles.

(All images above are from the internet)

Dr. Xing Che / Yunjia New Energy Review Studio

Nov. 6, Hangzhou. Geely Starlink combined "Global User Music Carnival" and "Geely Xingyuan Million Achievement Fan Rewards Launch Event". 24 months since launch, Geely Xingyuan cumulative sales broke 1 million units. Averaged out, less than one minute to sell one car — this is the fastest new energy vehicle globally to achieve 1 million sales.

From Hit to Benchmark: 2 Years, 1 Million Sales, Redefine "Global Speed"

Launched in October 2024, 1 million units sold in 2 years. This number holds up because it is not an accidental rush in a single month, but the result of stable output across multiple sales cycles.

In 2025, Geely Xingyuan won the sales champion of all categories in the Chinese auto market; in the first half of 2026, it sold 249,418 units, up 21% year-on-year, continuing to hold the title of China's best-selling model. Entering the second half, the pace accelerated: single-month sales broke 60,000 units consecutively in August and September, and October exceeded 70,000 units, setting a historic high for monthly sales. Regardless of brand, regardless of energy source, regardless of level — this is a sales champion without any qualifiers.

Domestic heat extended overseas as well. Currently, Geely Xingyuan has landed in over 30 countries globally, ranking TOP 2 in Chinese New Energy Hatchback Exports for January-June 2026. In Thailand, it is the EV sales champion; in Egypt, it took the A&B class pure EV sales champion for 2 consecutive months; in Mexico, it ranked 2nd in pure EV sales across all categories for 3 consecutive months; in Australia, it held the Hatchback pure EV sales champion title for 2 consecutive months after only 2 months on the market.

Million New Starting Point: Two STAR Limited Edition Models Launched, Million Fan Rewards Released Simultaneously

Behind 1 million units are 1 million lifestyles. The two new models launched in this STAR Limited Edition series are aimed at the personalized needs of young users.

STAR Ace provides Worry-Free Green, Pepsi Orange, and Lustrous Silver; STAR Chill adopts Milk Salt Rice color, paired with a new interior. The two new models have a limited-time rights price of 88,800 Yuan, both equipped with the only electric front trunk and EVA robot in their class, combining personal expression with daily convenience.

For purchase rights, users buying these two new models can enjoy a 3,000 Yuan super trade-in subsidy, and can obtain a STAR exclusive gift package worth 4,099 Yuan for a limited time.

"Million Achievement Fan Rewards" were also released simultaneously: users can participate in a lucky draw by logging into the Geely Starlink App. Prizes include Grandpa's Not Brew Tea Milk Tea Vouchers, Geely Xingyuan Million Sales Commemorative Badges, Geely Xingyuan In-Car Ecosystem Practical Items, Capybara Healing IP Merchandise, and Charging Service Fee Discount Vouchers. Geely Xingyuan side indicated that the STAR Limited Edition series will continue to update, releasing more new models and new experiences.

220,000 km Fielded Vehicle Test: Long-term Reliability is the Quality Confidence Behind "Million Sales"

Features can catch up, foundations cannot be rushed. The confidence of million sales comes from quality that can withstand the dual test of time and mileage.

Geely Xingyuan partnered with CATARC to find a fielded vehicle that had already driven 220,000 km for a 310 km Dream Edition test, focusing on the real status after long-term use.

Under eco mode with AC off in comprehensive road conditions, the range achievement rate for this vehicle driven 220,000 km was 99.7% — the rated range barely discounted, backed by CATL battery cells and liquid cooling temperature control system standard on all models. The Moose Test score was 78.1 km/h, handling stability superior to most new cars in the same class; rear-wheel drive layout, front MacPherson and rear multi-link independent suspension, plus Lotus tuning, keep the chassis stable and controllable even after long-term use.

Regarding battery safety, this fielded vehicle underwent six extreme serial tests: battery health at the battery pack level, high temperature baking, seawater soaking; at the vehicle level, low temperature charge/discharge, bottom impact, dual needle puncture. Results show that after 220,000 km of high-intensity use, battery health remains 91.19%, far exceeding the national standard 200,000 km 70% requirement. Shield Battery Security System, I-shaped Aluminum Alloy Battery Protection Case, Double Well-shaped Rear Subframe form physical protection, liquid cooling temperature control system and BMS 3.0 Battery Doctor responsible for temperature management and status monitoring, multiple safety nets from structure to operation.

Extending Millions of Beauties Continuously: Partner with Users to Launch Season 3 of "Our Xingyuan"

When sales broke 1 million, Geely Xingyuan and owners had another agreement — "Our Xingyuan" Public Welfare Project, originally from the common wish with owners at launch.

Season 1 visited Sichuan Liangshan, Season 2 visited Guizhou Qiannan. Geely Xingyuan and owners built basketball courts and soccer fields for children together.

Season 3 followed the song of Wa Mountains to Masan Village, Simao County, Pu'er, Yunnan. The "Little Sparrow Choir" here has a group of children who love Wa songs, dreaming of singing folk songs on a bigger stage. To fulfill the owners' wish, Geely Xingyuan donated the "Our Xingyuan Music Classroom", and invited these children to Hangzhou to perform on stage with Lang Lang. Besides the performance, Lang Lang also gave music guidance face-to-face to the children, and taught a master class.

From raising the category standard of A0-size cars since launch, to gaining 1 million users in two years, Geely Xingyuan relies on "High Quality Good Price" supported by long-term reliability and cross-level experience. Standing on the new starting point of 1 million vehicles, for the next 1 million, it still has to keep running.

On the morning of October 20, the Geely Galaxy production line at the Xiangtan manufacturing base was operating a double shift, with a new vehicle coming off the line every 55 seconds, where humans rest but the line does not. The 1 millionth Star Wish came off this line; counting from its launch in October 2024, in 24 months, it set a global record for the fastest million-unit speed for new energy vehicles.

Looking at the five nodes laid out, the intervals are getting shorter: Launched in October 2024, 200,000 in May 2025, 600,000 in March 2026, 800,000 in August, 1 million in October; the final 400,000 units took only 7 months. For a scale of 1 million units, it usually takes three to five years globally, and often involves the combined volume of several models under a brand, but Star Wish achieved 1 million units for a single model in 24 months. The production line hasn't changed; what changed is the order speed: Retail sales were 465,775 units in 2025, ranking first in all categories; in the first half of 2026, retail sales were 249,418 units, a 21% year-over-year increase. Extending to January-September, cumulative sales still rank first in all categories in China, with its share in the A0-segment pure electric market exceeding 30%. It sold over 60,000 in both August and September for two consecutive months, and broke 70,000 in October, which is the highest single-month sales volume for this car.

Star Wish has been sold to over 30 countries globally; in January-June 2026, it ranked second in China's new energy hatchback exports. Thailand EV sales champion, Egypt A&B pure electric sales champion for 2 consecutive months, Mexico top 2 in all-category pure electric sales for 3 consecutive months, Australia launched only 2 months and won the Hatchback pure electric sales champion again; these achievements were all secured by this car.

70,000 RMB Level Value Benchmark: Targeted Breakthrough on Three Major Practical Pain Points

From 64,800 to 94,800 RMB, Star Wish is not the cheapest in the A0-segment; it couldn't sell 1 million units in 24 months relying solely on being cheap. It solves three old problems that consumers at this price point have tolerated for years.

First is space, the most commonly criticized pain point for small cars. Star Wish has a length of 4135mm and a wheelbase of 2650mm. The rear floor is completely flat, so if three adults sit in the back, the middle one doesn't need to spread legs the whole way. There is also a 70L front trunk at the front of the car; charging cables, umbrellas, wet rags, and other items that shouldn't enter the cabin finally have a place to put. With the rear seats folded, the cargo space expands from 375L to 1320L, enough to fit a small desk horizontally. Under the passenger seat, there is a 10L drawer; lipstick, wet wipes, charging cables, and other scraps usually scattered on the seats can be stowed away in one go. Vanity mirrors for the driver and passenger both have soft light, so there's no need to find a light before touching up makeup before going out.

Next is the bumpiness issue. Star Wish chassis features a rear-motor rear-wheel drive setup plus a rear multi-link independent suspension; this is not common in 70,000 RMB cars. When going over speed bumps, the two rear wheels go their own way; one presses up while the other doesn't bounce along.

Finally, difficulty in turning around. Star Wish has a minimum turning radius of 4.95 meters, with a maximum front wheel steering angle of 41 degrees. On narrow roads like those in old residential areas, you can turn around in one steering input without needing to back up and then go.

These three features are available on the 64,800 RMB entry version, with no extra cost required.

Maxed-out Hidden Configuration: Cross-Tier Investment in Safety and Quality

The easiest thing to cut costs on in low-priced cars is the battery. Mixed cell assembly at this price point is not rare; the same model uses different suppliers for different batches, and buyers have to rely on luck. Star Wish uses CATL Lithium Iron Phosphate across the line, equipped with liquid cooling. There is also an aluminum alloy protective cabin outside the battery pack. For underbody strikes, scrapes, or wading water, the outer shell breaks first, protecting the cells.

Filling the Brand Matrix: A Key Move for Galaxy to Enter the Entry Market

Geely Galaxy was established in February 2023. The first car, L7, launched in May of that year. It sold 83,000 units in 2023, 494,000 in the second year, and 1.24 million in 2025, increasing more than tenfold in three years; from L7's launch to reaching 1 million annual sales took 29 months, a speed that leaves many new energy brands in the dust.

But during these three years, Galaxy has been missing one piece: no car under 100,000 RMB that can carry volume. E5 holds the 150,000 RMB pure electric SUV segment, Starship 7 holds the hybrid SUV segment, and M9 is responsible for the high end. For a mainstream brand to stand firm, it needs a car that ordinary people can afford at first sight, and Star Wish fills this position.

So, these 1 million units of Star Wish mean more than just adding another hit car for Galaxy; it brings the high quality and good value pitch onto the 70,000 RMB price point, the hardest to work on. By standing firm here, it can fight down and dare to go up.

In Galaxy's 1.24 million units in 2025, Star Wish accounted for 530,000, over 40%. Placed into Geely's annual 3.02 million units and 1.69 million new energy units, it is the backbone; it's not the most expensive in Galaxy, but the one most people recognize first.

After 1 Million Sales: Long-term Stability Supported by System Capability

Star Wish achieving 1 million sales is the strongest proof of the GEA global new energy architecture's success. The proof is not on the drawings, but in Xiangtan, Geely's self-built complete vehicle base. Operated in Hunan for 20 years, auto production and sales in 2025 broke 640,000 units/sets. The supporting Flash-Power battery project has an annual capacity of 10 GWh, and the 1 millionth battery pack comes off the line in 2026. With the whole vehicle and battery in the same city, the support radius is short, ensuring the 55-second-per-unit cadence doesn't break.

Another piece of evidence lies in the hands of users. A 310km Dream Edition Star Wish ran for two years; the odometer reached 220,000 km. In Eco mode with the AC off, running from full charge to empty, the measured range was 309.3 km, a range achievement rate of 99.7%. The same car re-tested the Moose test at 78.1 km/h, compared to 80.7 km/h for a new car. The measured range of EVs is usually 80-90% of the rated range; this car that ran for two years and 220,000 km can still achieve 99.7%, and the Moose test is only 2.6 km/h lower than the new car. The battery and chassis have basically not deviated.

1 million units coming off at light speed shows this line runs fast; whether the 1,000,001st unit's quality is the same truly shows whether the production line is stable.

Conclusion

Selling 1 million units in 24 months is a speed record, but speed itself is not the destination.

1 million units off the line means Star Wish has entered a new stage of scale; the bigger test has just begun. For over 30 countries overseas, the question is whether channels, after-sales, and brand recognition keep up with the car sales speed, and whether localized production is on the agenda. Domestically, where is the ceiling for the A0-segment share? What to rely on to keep the gap after competitors catch up on configuration? Whether the price band will be squeezed from above and pressed from below? All are questions to be answered next.

At least until today, Star Wish's speed has proven two things: the scale space for entry-level pure electric is far from fully released; once product power crosses the 'enough' line, the mass market wants more than the industry thinks. China's new energy competitiveness is shifting from purely competing on price-performance to competing on supply chain efficiency and product definition capability.

On November 6, the Geely Galaxy Global User Music Carnival and Geely Xingyuan Million Sales Achievement Fan Reward Rights Launch Event was held in Hangzhou. This pure electric model launched in October 2024 reached cumulative sales exceeding 1 million units in just 24 months, selling one unit on average in less than a minute, becoming the fastest new energy vehicle globally to reach 1 million sales. New versions of the STAR Limited Series were launched simultaneously at the event, and fan reward user rights were released online, marking a new node in brand development through product iteration and user operations.

Domestic Market Continues to Lead, Overseas Markets Gain Widespread Recognition

Behind the million sales is the product's long-term stable market output capability. Geely Xingyuan won the 2025 Chinese Automotive Market All-Category Sales Champion, with cumulative sales of 249,418 units in the first half of 2026, up 21% year-on-year, continuing to secure its position as a best-selling model in the domestic market. Entering the second half, model sales accelerated further, with monthly sales in August and September consecutively exceeding 60,000 units. October monthly sales exceeded 70,000 units, setting a new high for monthly sales since launch and achieving market heat across cycles.

The domestic hot sales trend is simultaneously transmitted overseas. Currently Geely Xingyuan has landed in more than 30 countries globally, ranking second in China's export of new energy hatchback models from January-6 2026. It achieved good results in multiple overseas markets, winning the sales champion in Thailand electric vehicles, being number one in Egypt's A&B class pure electric vehicle sales for two consecutive months, ranking second in Mexico's all-category pure electric vehicle sales for three consecutive months, and winning the local pure electric hatchback sales champion in Australia only two months after launch, becoming a representative product for Chinese new energy small cars going global.

STAR Limited Series New Arrivals, Multiple Fan Rewards to Reward Million Users

Taking the opportunity of achieving million sales, Geely Xingyuan brought two new versions of the STAR Limited Series: STAR Ace and STAR Chill, with a limited-time rights price of 88,800 yuan. STAR Ace offers Worry-Free Green, Pepsi Orange, Flowing Light Silver three body colors, while STAR Chill is equipped with Milk Salt Beige exclusive paint and brand new interior. The two models are equipped with class-exclusive electric frunk and EVA robot, balancing personalized appearance and daily vehicle practicality. Purchasing users can enjoy a 3,000 yuan super trade-in subsidy, and a STAR exclusive gift pack worth 4,099 yuan.

Facing all million users, the official website launched "Million Achievement Fan Reward Rights". Users log in to Geely Galaxy App to participate in online lottery, prizes include milk tea consumption vouchers, million sales commemorative badges, car accessories, IP merchandise, charging service fee discount vouchers, and other benefits. According to introductions, the STAR Limited Series will continue to iterate and update, surrounding user aesthetics and travel scenarios, launch more version models, matching diversified lifestyle needs.

Actual Testing Verifies Product Quality, Public Welfare Project Conveys Brand Warmth

The confidence behind million sales comes from the product's reliable performance in long-term use. Geely Xingyuan cooperated with CATARC to carry out a special test on a user vehicle in service that had driven 220,000 kilometers. In comprehensive road conditions energy saving mode, the vehicle's range achievement rate reached 99.7%; completed Moose test at 78.1 km/h, chassis handling performance performance stable. After 220,000 kilometers of high-intensity use, vehicle battery health level still reached 91.19%, better than the national standard 200,000 kilometers 70% reference standard. Vehicle also smoothly passed high temperature baking, seawater immersion, bottom impact, etc., six major battery limit series tests, Godshield Battery Safety System, liquid cooling temperature control, etc. hardware configuration protection ability verified.

Brand public welfare project "Our Xingyuan" also welcomes the third season. Previously the project had donated and built sports fields in Sichuan Daliangshan, Guizhou Qiannan. Third season landed in Yunnan Pu'er Ximeng County Masan Village, donate and build a music classroom for the local Little Sparrow Choir, invited local ethnic minority children to go to Hangzhou to stage performances, Lang Lang carried out music guidance for children, helping mountain youth realize art dreams, realizing the implementation of car owner goodwill.

Market Observation

A0 class pure electric small car is an important niche track of domestic new energy vehicle market, competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Geely Xingyuan two years break one million market performance, prove high quality good price home pure electric products have broad market space. On one hand, stable Three-Electric quality, chassis tuning solidify product basic disk, balancing domestic ordinary family commuting needs; on the other hand, models continue version iteration, matching user benefits, public welfare projects, jump out of simple product sales, build emotional connection with users.

At the same time this model landed and hot sales in more than 30 countries, also reflects that Chinese A0 class pure electric small cars have overseas competitiveness. Global market high cost-performance city commuting new energy vehicle demand is strong, domestic car companies rely on complete supply chain and product polishing experience, expect to continue to harvest more market share in global small new energy vehicle market.

October exports were 107,153 units, surging 158% year-on-year, standing at the 100,000 mark for 5 consecutive months. Even more exciting is the structure: new energy vehicle exports reached 82,565 units, a 506% surge year-on-year, accounting for a spike to 77% of exports. Cumulative exports for the first three quarters totaled 798,000 units, up 169% year-on-year. Domestically, price and configuration wars raged, so Geely has shifted its second growth curve overseas. But going global: early days relied on cost-effectiveness, now it is about depth of rooting — where channels are spread, whether brands can stand firm, and whether local systems can operate smoothly, that is the watershed.

1. 77% of Exports are New Energy, the Competition Strategy Has Changed

Previously, Chinese cars went global relying on low-priced fuel vehicles to move volume. This data from Geely tears up the old script — 77% of exports are new energy. Zeekr delivered 14,162 units overseas in October, exceeding 10,000 monthly sales for 3 consecutive months, with overseas share exceeding 40%. Zeekr took the top spot for luxury brand sales in Australia in Q3, and in September ranked second for electric brands in Malaysia. Geely International EX5 landed in the UK and Poland, Galaxy Starship 7 EM-i entered Australia, CITYRAY landed in the European Adriatic market, Lynk & Co entered Czechia, Austria, and Switzerland. It is not selling whatever is available; it is taking high-value products to bite into mature markets. This competition strategy has changed: from competing on price to competing on product power, from moving volume to moving value.

II. Methanol + Smart Driving, Planting Long-term Seeds

Sales reflect the present, technology determines the ranking two years later. Qianli Haohan assisted driving has accumulated 1.073 million owners, an activation rate of 93.9%, cumulative assisted driving mileage of 3.14 billion kilometers, year-on-year growth of 252.6%, with both installation scale growth and usage mileage growth ranking first in the industry. Geely did not just shove smart driving into high-end flagships, but used multiple brands and price bands to spread to the mass market, where volume growth feeds back into algorithm iteration. On the charging side, MW-level smart charging single gun power is 2.2 MW, building a battery swap network with NIO together, targeting 6,000 smart charging stations by end of 2026, and over 22,000 by end of 2027. Further plans are hidden — November 3rd release of new generation methanol electric hybrid technology, the world's first methanol electric hybrid family sedan Galaxy Starshine 6 EF is about to launch. Smart driving manages the present, charging manages the medium term, methanol manages the long term, three lines arranged into an echelon.

III. From Selling Cars to Rooting, Paris Auto Show Reveals Hand

2026 Paris Auto Show, Geely first appeared with the group lineup of Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr, showcasing SEA-S Haohan architecture and intelligent electric drive. In September, sales of the three brands in Europe exceeded 10,000 units in a single month for the first time. Entering the UK market for only 11 months, the 100th retail outlet signed, cumulative registrations broke 10,000, September monthly sales exceeded 5,000 units. On October 9, it was announced entering Canada, first batch of models meet in 2027. Geely took the number one spot for Chinese brand passenger car sales in Panama in September. From outputting products to spreading channels, to settling local operation systems, Chinese brands going global have passed the stage of "whether there are cars to sell", entering the deep water zone of "whether they can root". That group lineup at the Paris Auto Show reveals the system's bottom card.

Conclusion

Exports broke 100,000 for 5 consecutive months, numbers look good, but what is truly valuable is that hidden line — 77% new energy share, high-end models moving volume overseas, dense channel network setup, technology echelon positioning ahead. Globalization 2.0 does not compete on who has more ships, but who can drive roots down locally. Geely's game is not the earliest, but the moves are dense and deep enough. Next quarter overseas nodes are still adding pressure, Canada market delivery in 2027, European channels continue to spread, methanol technology draws sword on November 3rd. 100,000 units is just a step, not the end point.

8 Consecutive Months of Dual Growth, Geely's Highlights Go Beyond 310,000 Units

— In-depth Breakdown of the Three Growth Curves of October New Energy, Premiumization, and Globalization

On November 1, Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (0175.HK) announced the latest sales data: October sales totaled 310,183 units, exceeding 300,000 units for the first time this year. It achieved dual month-over-month and year-on-year growth for 8 consecutive months, with a monthly increase of 6%. Monthly data is never scarce in the industry; what is truly scarce is the ability to consistently deliver on monthly figures.

Breaking down this report reveals that 310,000 units are merely the result; the real variables lie within the structure: New Energy products broke the 200,000 unit mark in a single month for the first time, overseas exports stood at 100,000 units for 5 consecutive months, and luxury brands completed their full-year goals first. In the past, growth for many enterprises relied on single hit products for pulse-like spikes, while this scorecard from Geely presents a synergy formed by several curves moving upward simultaneously. The following sections will unpack the true substance behind these data points layer by layer from five dimensions: total volume foundation, New Energy matrix, premiumization, technology reserve, and globalization.

I. Total Volume Foundation: 8 Consecutive Months of Dual Growth, It's Never About Spiking High, But Withstanding Volatility

A single monthly spike can be achieved through marketing nodes; achieving dual month-over-month and year-on-year growth for 8 consecutive months tests the thickness of a company's foundation to navigate industry cycles.

In October, Geely Group sales reached 310,183 units, up 6% month-over-month. Looking at segments, Geely Brand sold 255,742 units, up 8% year-on-year and 4% month-over-month; Zeekr delivered 32,483 units, up 52% year-on-year; Lynk & Co sold 21,958 units, up 19% month-over-month. All three segments moved upward in the same direction, avoiding an overall decline caused by the failure of a single pillar.

The stability of the fuel base is equally key. Geely China Star sales reached 102,357 units in October, retaining the title of China Brand Fuel Passenger Vehicle Sales Champion for the 10th consecutive year. Among them, the Boyue Family contributed 25,075 units, while the China Star Premium Series sold 39,094 units, with a cumulative historical sales volume exceeding 2 million vehicles. Against the backdrop of a continuous contraction in the overall fuel vehicle market, this business line did not passively wait for shrinkage but proactively shifted gears and upgraded using HEV technology: i-HEV models sold 19,631 units in October, accounting for over 19% of China Star sales, with cumulative sales approaching 76,000 vehicles. Standing firm on both oil and electric legs is the underlying reason why the 8-month dual growth showed no interruption.

Figure 1 Geely Automobile October Group Sales Performance Report

II. New Energy Matrix: From One Xingyuan Ruling the Market to Multi-Model Synergy for Volume

The true significance of breaking the 200,000-unit mark in a single month lies not in setting a record, but in the model structure supporting the record having changed.

In October, Geely New Energy product sales (including Geely, Lynk & Co, Zeekr) reached 214,996 units, up 21% year-on-year, breaking the 200,000-unit mark in a single month for the first time and setting a historical high. The New Energy sales share reached 69.31%, also breaking the historical record. This means New Energy has transformed from a marginal contributor to growth into the actual foundation of the Group's sales volume.

The volume-driving Galaxry Brand sold 153,385 units in October, setting a new monthly sales record. Cumulative sales from January to October reached 1,030,569 units, solidifying its position in the first tier of mainstream New Energy. Among them, Galaxy Xingyuan sold 71,337 units, with monthly sales exceeding 50,000 units for 5 consecutive months; the 1 millionth mass-produced whole vehicle officially rolled off the production line at the Xiangtan manufacturing base, with one vehicle rolling off the line every 55 seconds on average, breaking the global automotive market record for one-million-vehicle roll-off speed. The phase where one car alone carries the market load is passing: waist models like Xingjian sold 25,476 units in July, Galaxy E5 sold 14,194 units, with stable breakthroughs over 10,000 units for consecutive months; upward breakthrough models are taking over, with the C-class AI pure electric sports sedan Galaxy TT delivering 10,225 units in its first complete delivery month; on October 10, the New Energy rugged SUV Galaxy Warship 700 launched. Confirmed orders broke 10,000 units within 12 minutes of launch, with monthly sales reaching 8,285 units.

From mainstream home use to pure electric sports coupes to rugged off-road, the Galaxy product line is completing its length and width. The value of matrix sales lies in: when the popularity of a single model fluctuates, the overall market load has other models to support it, thereby significantly enhancing the certainty of growth.

Figure 2 Geely Xingyuan 1 Millionth Whole Vehicle Officially Rols Off the Line at Xiangtan Base

Figure 3 Galaxy Warship 700: A New Option for Rugged SUVs in the New Energy Era

III. Premiumization Report: Scale and Premium Value Established Simultaneously, Breaking the Habit of "Volume Without Price"

The difficulty in building a premium brand domestically is not in selling a single high-priced car, but in forming a stable scale for high-priced cars; Zeekr's October data offers a feasible sample.

In October, Zeekr deliveries reached 32,483 units, up 52% year-on-year, with monthly sales exceeding 30,000 units for 7 consecutive months; cumulative deliveries from January to October exceeded 320,000 units, up 94.4% year-on-year, with an average transaction price close to 370,000 Yuan, completing the 300,000-unit annual sales target. There is also a product foothold in the high-price segment: Zeekr 9X delivered 6,030 units this month, with an average transaction price per vehicle above 530,000 Yuan. More than 80% of owners actively recommend it, ranking first in sales volume for vehicles above 500,000 Yuan from January to September; Zeekr 009 topped the sales volume ranking for pure electric MPVs above 400,000 Yuan from January to September. Meanwhile, Zeekr overseas deliveries in October reached 14,162 units, with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 units for 3 consecutive months. Overseas sales share exceeded 40%, with premium models copying product power verified in the domestic market to the global market.

On the other pole, Lynk & Co is in a stage of stabilizing and recovering: October sales reached 21,958 units, up 19% month-over-month. New Energy model share exceeded 80%, with Lynk & Co 07 GT retaining the title of China Wagon Sales Champion for two consecutive months. Achievements off the track also feed back into brand perception—Lynk & Co swept the annual Team, Driver, and Vehicle Championship three titles in the 2026 season TCR China Championship, solidifying the tag of "China's Number 1 Automotive Sports Brand" with racing results. One is responsible for scaling up volume, the other is in a storage phase after structural adjustment; the two together constitute the price ladder product tier of the Group.

Figure 4 Lynk & Co Sweeps 2026 Season TCR China Championship Team, Driver, Vehicle Three Championships

IV. Technology Dark Line: Smart Driving for Mass Scale, Charging Energy Building Eco-Network, Methanol Reserve for Long-Term Options

Monthly sales reflect current product power, while what determines the industry ranking two years later is the technology layout buried beneath the report.

Regarding intelligence, the deployment scale of the Qianli Haohan assisted driving system and actual usage are simultaneously entering the scale stage. According to the "Qianli Haohan 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day Travel Report", as of October 7, cumulative Qianli Haohan owners reached 1.073 million. Assisted driving activation rate was 93.9%, cumulative assisted driving mileage was 3.14 billion kilometers, up 252.6% year-on-year, leading the industry with two firsts: domestic brand deployment scale growth rate and assisted driving mileage growth rate. Unlike the route of concentrating deployment only on high-price flagship models, Geely relies on multi-brand, multi-price band models to bring assisted driving to more mass-market user groups. The real usage data at scale will in turn accelerate algorithm iteration.

Charging infrastructure is another mid-term infrastructure project. The Megawatt-level smart charging technology released by Geely has a single gun power reaching 2.2 Megawatts, combined with the industry's first AI temperature control technology and full-link five-end liquid cooling solution, setting a new benchmark for charging energy safety. At the network level, Geely is carrying out strategic cooperation with NIO in the charging and battery swap field. It plans to build 6,000 smart charging stations and over 20,000 smart charging guns by the end of 2026, and over 22,000 charging stations and over 100,000 charging guns by the end of 2027, promoting high-density "County Connectivity" coverage.

On long-term energy routes, Geely's next-generation methanol hybrid technology will be officially released on November 3. The world's first methanol hybrid family sedan Galaxy Starshine 6 EF will also go on sale soon. Previously, the vehicle completed ground shuttle trials as the conference's official designated vehicle. Smart driving corresponds to current popularity, charging energy corresponds to mid-term ecosystem, methanol corresponds to long-term energy options. The three technology lines constitute a tiered reserve in the time dimension.

Figure 5 Qianli Haohan Deployment Volume and Assisted Driving Mileage Growth Rate Dual Firsts

Figure 6 Galaxy Starshine 6 EF: World's First Methanol Hybrid Family Sedan Launching Soon

V. Globalization 2.0: After Exports Exceed 100,000 Units for 5 Consecutive Months, the Competition Is Root Depth

Early overseas expansion competed on single-car price-performance; current overseas expansion competes on comprehensive system capabilities of channels, brands, and localization operations.

In October, Geely overseas export sales reached 107,153 units, up 158% year-on-year, with single-month exports exceeding 100,000 units for 5 consecutive months. Structural changes are even more worth noting: New Energy product exports reached 82,565 units in the same month, skyrocketing 506% year-on-year, with New Energy share of export sales rising to 77%. Cumulative exports for the first three quarters reached 798,000 units, up 169%. The contour of the second growth curve is clearly visible.

Market layout is moving from single-point breakthrough to multi-regional synergy. At the 2026 Paris Auto Show, Geely debuted for the first time with a Group line-up bringing Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr three brands to the collective stage, with core technologies such as SEA-S Galaxy Architecture and Smart Electric Drive displayed externally; in September, sales of Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr in Europe exceeded 10,000 units in a single month for the first time. In the UK market, the 100th retail outlet was signed up. Entering the market for only 11 months, cumulative vehicle registrations broke 10,000 units, with September single-month registrations exceeding 5,000 units. On October 9, Geely announced formal entry into the Canadian market, with the first batch of models planned to meet consumers locally in 2027. Regional scorecards blossom in multiple points: Zeekr ranked first in luxury brand sales volume in Australia in the third quarter; in September, it rose to second in the Malaysian electric brand ranking; Geely took the top spot in China Brand Passenger Vehicle Sales in Panama in September.

From outputting products to laying out channels to precipitating local systems, Chinese brand overseas expansion has passed the phase of "whether there are cars to sell" and entered a new phase of "whether it can sustain rooting".

Figure 7 Geely Group Debuts at 2026 Paris Auto Show for the First Time with Three-Brand Line-up

Conclusion: The Moat Is Growth Structure, Not Single-Month Peak

Observing the five clues side-by-side yields a conclusion more complete than "310,000 units": the core driver of Geely's October growth is not the pulse-like explosion of a single new car, but the structural growth woven together by mainstream brands driving volume, premium brands commanding premiums, fuel foundation HEV-ization, multi-route technology reserves, and multi-regional overseas landing. Monthly figures fluctuate with seasons and promotional rhythms, while once the growth structure is formed, it brings resilience that transcends the cycle.

The fourth quarter ahead is still node-heavy: November 3 next-generation methanol hybrid technology will be officially released; November 5 the 2027 model Lynk & Co 08 EM-P goes on sale, Galaxy M8, Lynk & Co 900L, 2027 model Zeekr 7X and other new cars will be sequentially introduced; combined with the 40th Anniversary of Founding and Hangzhou Marathon "Add Energy Together" brand node, the market will still see dense product and buzz placement. For automakers at the 300,000 units monthly sales level, the true moat is never a single month's sales peak, but the growth structure behind the peak that does not rely on single points—this is precisely the reading focus this October report leaves for the industry.

November 1, Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (0175.HK) announced the latest sales data: October sales reached 310,183 vehicles, breaking the 300,000-vehicle threshold for the first time this year, with consecutive double-digit growth in both year-on-year and month-on-month terms for 8 months, marking a 6% month-on-month increase. October sales of New Energy Vehicles (including Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr) totaled 214,996 vehicles, representing a 21% year-on-year increase, surpassing 200,000 units in a single month for the first time, setting a new historical record; the proportion of New Energy Vehicle sales reached 69%, also setting a new historical record.

Brand influence and channel coverage synergistically improved overseas sales, with the overseas market entering a new stage of multi-point and multi-product growth. Overseas export sales exceeded 100,000 vehicles for five consecutive months. October overseas export sales were 107,153 vehicles, a 158% year-on-year increase. New Energy Vehicle export sales reached a new historical high, with October New Energy Vehicle export sales at 82,565 vehicles, a staggering 506% surge compared to the same period last year, and the proportion of New Energy Vehicle export sales increased to 77%.

Products, technology, and overseas operating systems have entered a new stage of scale growth, promoting Geely to continue expanding its sales volume while forming high-quality growth with greater sustainability and resilience. Momentum of million-level blockbuster products continued, newly launched models kept leading, and market growth momentum advanced from multiple sources; Hanxiao Pilot moved from million-level installations to high-frequency usage, and advanced technologies such as Methanol-Electric Hybrid accelerated towards mass production, expanding technology capability boundaries while releasing technology application value to enhance user recognition; the collective appearance of three brands at the Paris Auto Show and the performance results in multiple regional markets verified the deepening development of the overseas market system operation system.

Star Products Continue to Grow at Scale, New Products Further Expand Market Growth Potential

Geely covers mainstream, high-end, and luxury markets comprehensively. Continuous growth of blockbuster products, release of new product growth momentum, and continuous upgrade of mainstream models jointly promote the conversion of product technology momentum from the three brands into market growth momentum.

Geely brand oil-electric new products were launched simultaneously, further expanding the growth space of the mainstream market. October Geely brand sales volume was 255,742 vehicles, an 8% year-on-year increase and a 4% month-on-month increase.

Among them, the flagship model scale of the mainstream New Energy brand Geely Galaxy increased to a new level, and the momentum of new cars was released. October sales were 153,385 vehicles, setting a new monthly sales record, an 18% year-on-year increase, and a 20% month-on-month increase. Geely Star Wish sales exceeded 50,000 vehicles for five consecutive months, with October sales reaching 71,337 vehicles, and cumulative historical sales volume breaking the 1 million vehicle milestone. The 1 millionth mass-produced vehicle officially rolled off the line at the Geely Automobile Xiangtan Manufacturing Base, refreshing the global automotive market's million-vehicle roll-off speed record, with one complete vehicle rolling off every 55 seconds on average. In addition, Geely Galaxy E5 sales were 14,194 vehicles.

While consolidating the advantages of the mainstream market, Geely Galaxy further expanded incremental growth in the niche market. In its first month on the market, the C-level AI Pure Electric Sports Sedan Galaxy TT deliveries already exceeded 10,000 units. Geely's first New Energy Rugged SUV — Galaxy Battleship 700 officially launched on October 10, opening a new era of New Energy Rugged SUVs from four dimensions of architecture, power, intelligence, and safety. With five major full-scenario strength capabilities, it achieves a dual-peak experience in "City and Wild", with over 10,000 large orders in the first 12 minutes of launch.

With intelligence and HEVization as anchor points, Geely China Star continued to enhance the competitiveness of the fuel market. October sales volume was 102,357 vehicles. Among them, Binyue family sales were 25,075 vehicles, and Geely China Star high-end series October sales were 39,094 vehicles, with historical cumulative sales exceeding 2 million vehicles.

Geely China Star underwent intensive renewal, achieving a comprehensive leap in classic product strength. Geely Xingrui L PLUS was built based on the most advanced CMA architecture, equipped with Geely's most advanced i-HEV Intelligent Hybrid system, Hanxiao Pilot H5 and above assistance driving systems, and Flyme Auto intelligent cockpit; it also achieved several first-in-class launches including the first Laser Radar in fuel sedans, the first EVA Intelligent Robot, and the first Full-Scenario Blow-out Tire Stability System, leading comprehensively in six dimensions of aesthetics, energy saving, intelligence, comfort, handling, and safety; the Emgrand family is the first A-class sedan family in China with a sales volume exceeding 4 million vehicles. Its major upgrade — the new Emgrand Rising series launched. The new car was built based on the BMA Global Modular Architecture, promoting a comprehensive leap in product value; the 2027 Binyue comprehensively upgraded in appearance, comfort, intelligence, quality, and safety around family travel scenarios, reshaping a new benchmark for home SUVs within the 100,000 price range; the 2027 Bin Yue Super Power version comprehensively upgraded in appearance, driving experience, and safety configurations.

While the Geely brand continues to expand the mainstream market scale, Lynk & Co and Zeekr achieved breakthroughs in the high-end and luxury markets respectively.

Global New Energy High-end Brand Lynk & Co October sales volume was 21,958 vehicles, with a 19% month-on-month increase. Among them, New Energy product sales were 18,521 vehicles, with a 9% month-on-month increase.

Lynk & Co product strength and race results further strengthened brand competitiveness, accumulating momentum for subsequent growth. In terms of products, Lynk 07GT sales topped the Chinese Travel Car sales list for two consecutive months after its launch; the 2027 Lynk 08 EM-P will be launched and released on November 5; the official images of the 2027 Lynk 03 have been released to the public, kicking off a new round of product renewal.

In terms of racing, Lynk & Co, with stable performance throughout the year, officially crowned the annual team, driver, and model triple grand slam in the final race of the 2026 season TCR China Championship in Shaoxing. The Lynk & Co JetKai team defended the annual team championship title; driver Zhu Daiwei defended the annual driver championship title, and Lynk & Co 03+ TCR, China's first independent mass-produced TCR racing car, won the annual model championship title, consolidating its industry status as "China's Number One Automotive Sports Brand".

Global Luxury Tech Brand Zeekr, October deliveries were 32,483 vehicles, a 52% year-on-year increase, with monthly sales exceeding 30,000 vehicles for 7 consecutive months, brand momentum steadily improved. Among them, Zeekr 9X's first anniversary on the market continued to sell well, with an average transaction price of over 530,000 yuan per vehicle, recommended by more than 80% of owners proactively, ranking first in sales of models above 500,000 yuan from January to September;  Zeekr 8X sales near half a year, ranked first in sales of hybrid SUVs between 300,000 and 500,000 yuan; Zeekr 009 topped the sales of pure electric MPVs above 400,000 yuan from January to September. While market performance continues to break through, Zeekr further expanded brand volume. At the 2026 Chengdu Marathon, Zeekr 001 and Zeekr 007GT served as official timekeeper designated vehicles. In the Hangzhou Marathon event, Zeekr 8X also provided full-course escort, continuously enhancing brand influence.

Intelligent Application Scale Growth and Frontier Energy Technology Accelerated Implementation, System Innovation Consolidates Long-term Competitiveness

While achieving the value release of auxiliary driving technology towards installation and application, Geely accelerated the mass production implementation of frontier low-carbon technologies such as Methanol-Electric Hybrid, further strengthening its technical strength facing intelligent and green transformation, providing support for product upgrades and long-term competitiveness.

In terms of intelligence, Hanxiao Pilot not only broke through the 1 million installation milestone, but also led the entire industry with the dual firsts of "Scale Growth of Independent Brand Installations" and "Mileage Growth of Auxiliary Driving Usage" this year. The "Hanxiao 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Travel Report" showed that as of October 7, 2026, cumulative Hanxiao owners reached 1.073 million, auxiliary driving activation rate was 93.9%, cumulative auxiliary driving total mileage was 3.14 billion kilometers, year-on-year growth of 252.6%. This indicates that Hanxiao has entered a stage of scale growth in installation scale and usage frequency. As the core carrier of Geely's intelligent strategy, it is accelerating its layout, relying on a multi-brand, multi-price product system to benefit a wider user group with auxiliary driving. User value continues to be released and usage willingness accelerates growth, promoting "Intelligent Driving Inclusiveness" to develop widely and deeply.

In terms of green frontier technology, Geely Galaxy's new generation Methanol-Electric Hybrid technology appeared at the 2026 Global Sustainable Leaders Conference. The world's first Methanol-Electric Hybrid Family Sedan Geely Galaxy Star Shine 6 EF served as the conference's official designated vehicle to provide shuttle services for global attending guests. Geely's new generation Methanol-Electric Hybrid technology will be officially released on November 3, breaking traditional energy constraints and opening a revolutionary era of energy. Geely Galaxy Star Shine 6 EF is about to officially launch recently, marking that Geely's Methanol Technology System has moved from deep accumulation to mass production scale, allowing Methanol to enter the mainstream passenger car market as a mass-produced family vehicle for the first time.

Overseas Operation System Accelerates Rooting, Multi-Region Growth Results Continuously Realized

Diversified product lineup, leading intelligent technology, and continuously deepened localization layout support each other, promoting the overseas market to enter a new stage of systematic growth. October overseas export sales were 107,153 vehicles, a 158% year-on-year increase. New Energy Vehicle overseas export sales maintained high growth rates, with October New Energy Vehicle export sales at 82,565 vehicles, a staggering 506% surge compared to the same period last year, and the proportion of New Energy Vehicle export sales increased to 77%.

Geely Automobile products accelerated layout, further enhancing brand awareness and influence in the overseas market. In October 2026, Geely Automobile Group appeared for the first time at the Paris Auto Show with a group lineup. Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr, the three brands, appeared together with multiple heavyweight models to show a diversified product matrix; core technologies such as SEA-S Hanxiao Architecture and Intelligent Electric Drive appeared together, comprehensively presenting hard-core system strength in the field of intelligent electrification, becoming a highly focused point of international media. In addition, Geely Monjaro EM-i and Lynk 07GT completed their European debut, Zeekr concentratedly exhibited luxury technology product matrix, planning to start Zeekr 9X European market deliveries in January 2027.

Geely deepened cultivation in the European market and achieved scale breakthroughs. In September, single-month sales of Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr brands in Europe broke through 10,000 vehicles for the first time. Meanwhile, Geely Automobile UK local channel construction entered a stage node, consolidating the foundation for scale growth. Geely Automobile UK's 100th retail outlet successfully signed with UK's second-largest auto dealer Lithia Group, which means Geely Automobile has preliminarily completed channel layout in the UK. Geely Automobile UK cumulative vehicle registration volume broke 10,000 vehicles only 11 months after entering the market, and realized monthly registration volume exceeding 5,000 vehicles in September 2026.

Geely Automobile's overseas market achieved a leap from single-point breakthrough to multi-region synergy, from single-model to full-system flowering, officially entering a new stage of "Multi-country, Multi-product, Multi-capability" comprehensive growth. Zeekr continued to break through in the global luxury pure electric market, ranking first in Australian luxury brand sales in the third quarter, and Malaysia electric brand ranking rose to second in September. Geely mainstream market continued to expand, achieving first place in China brand passenger car sales in Panama in September and first place in China brand overall sales from January to September, and also achieving second place in full-brand PHEV market sales and third place in full-brand pure electric market sales in Tunisia in September.

New territory continues to expand. On October 9, Geely Automobile announced formally entering the Canadian market. Currently, Geely Automobile Canada subsidiary team is in place, and local operations and sales and service network construction are advancing simultaneously. The first batch of models are planned to meet Canadian consumers in 2027.

Geely Automobile will continue to take "One Geely" as strategic guidance, accelerate globalization, high-endification, and intelligence driving, comprehensively release the growth momentum of "Global Domain AI Intelligent Automobile Leader", and will continue to transform multi-brand, technology, and global operating advantages into more stable scale growth and higher value creation, promoting high-quality development to reach a new level.

When the cycle declines, only those who can earn money while standing have the right to discuss the next round.

The biggest pain point of the Chinese auto market right now is not that sales are slow, but that they sell yet don't make money.

Price wars have lasted for years, and the industry average profit margin has slid down to around 1.5%. Some models lose money on every car sold. Increasing volume without increasing revenue has become the norm.

The discussion of 'anti-involution' has happened many times, but talk aside, profit margins are still declining continuously. The comparison is no longer just about sales rankings, but about survival regarding 'who can survive to the next era'.

Against this backdrop, Geely Automobile released a counter-intuitive Q3 report: Total sales for the first three quarters reached 2.235 million vehicles, growing against the trend amid a 6% overall industry decline; Total revenue was 272.6 billion yuan, a 13% year-on-year increase; Core net profit attributable to the parent company was 14.9 billion yuan, a significant 41% year-on-year increase. Sales growth 3%, revenue growth 13%, profit growth 41% — the three numbers rose sequentially, forming a healthy, almost luxurious growth curve.

Where the profit comes from: Not from cost-cutting, but from 'plucking' it out

Many people's first reaction is 'cost reduction'. Geely is indeed reducing costs: Administrative expense ratio dropped to 1.6%, sales expense ratio to 5.6%, R&D investment ratio to 5.5%, all three trending downward year-on-year. But more importantly, total R&D investment remained basically flat year-on-year — expense ratios decreased, absolute investment didn't, indicating efficiency improved, not profit gained by cutting R&D. This 'quality improvement and cost reduction' is a manifestation of system capability, not financial trickery.

The real profit engines are in two places: Average Selling Price per vehicle and Profit per vehicle. Average revenue per vehicle for the first three quarters was 112,000 yuan, up 12% year-on-year; core net profit per vehicle was 6,664 yuan, up 37% year-on-year. Profit growth far exceeds price growth, meaning cost control and operational efficiency are working in sync.

You should know that under the CPCA definition, industry average profit per vehicle for the first three quarters is only 1,145 yuan. Geely's number in the current market environment is no longer 'leading', but another species.

Behind the rising prices is a structural transformation. Zeekr's sales share for the first three quarters was 12.9%, but revenue share reached 31.3% — high-value models leveraged less volume to drive more revenue. Overseas exports reached 798,000 vehicles, up 169% year-on-year, with the growth rate ranking first among mainstream automakers, while export model unit prices and gross margins were higher than domestic. The two legs of premiumization and globalization pulled Geely's pricing power out of the quagmire of price wars.

Sales Structure

One Geely: Integration is not the goal, but to get the system running

Profit is the result, operation is the cause. The underlying logic of Geely's improvement in this round is organizational restructuring under the 'One Geely' strategy.

Starting from the 2024 'Taizhou Manifesto', Zeekr merged with Lynk & Co, Geely Automobile merged with Zeekr, reducing links in R&D, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, closing, merging, transferring, eliminating redundancy. In August this year, the Sales General Corporation was established, consolidating marketing resources of all brands together. Management turnover was completed, An Conghui succeeded as Chairman of the Board, and the company shifted from founder-driven to system and team-driven. The effects of the adjustment became visible in the following months: Lynk & Co sales stabilized, Galaxy went up, Zeekr continued to expand volume, China Star steadily improved — in a year without the traditional 'Golden September and Silver October', this is the answer given by system optimization.

The division of labor among the four brands has also become clear:

—— Galaxy expands categories, secures the base; Starship 7 sold over 22,000 units in September; Galaxy TT delivery broke 10,000 within 30 days of launch; Warship 700 booked over 10,000 units in 12 minutes of launch; the mid-range product line was filled;

—— Zeekr attacks the luxury market, 288,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, 96% of the annual 300,000 target achieved; 9X took the sales champion in the 500,000 yuan level market, exports contributed over 40% to that month's sales;

—— Lynk & Co takes the 'expansion' road, insisting on trends, sports, personality, new energy share exceeding 70%;

—— China Star grew against the trend amidst the decline of the fuel oil market overall, fully HEV-ized, using hybrid technology to prolong the life of fuel cars instead of waiting for death.

There is a point here that is easily misread: The industry is contracting, why does Geely still have multiple brands? The answer is R&D, production, and supply must be integrated, but sales and service must be differentiated. User segmentation is reality; brands are interfaces to reach different groups; integration is backend costs, not frontend faces. The saved money must ultimately be reflected in the financial statements — this is the meaning of integration.

Performance of the Four Major Brands

The Second Layer of Going Global: From Selling Cars to Building Systems

The speed of Geely going global exceeded many people's expectations, but what is more worth watching is the method of going global.

Exports reached 798,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, new energy exports 484,000 vehicles, up 531% year-on-year. Beyond the numbers is 'Industrial Symbiosis' going global: Europe cooperated with Ford and Volvo to layout capacity, ASEAN relies on the Malaysia Proton plant as a hub, Latin America binds with Renault, Volvo becomes Lynk & Co's exclusive dealer in Europe, Renault Geely Brazil Company's first local model has rolled off the line. As of the third quarter, 13 overseas factories were put into production, overseas capacity exceeds 840,000 vehicles.

In an environment where tariffs and trade barriers are rising, shipping cars out to sell and landing capacity, channels, R&D locally, are completely different levels of stress resistance. Geely is taking a path from 'Capital Globalization' to 'Industrial Globalization' — exchanging openness for access, sharing for scale, and long-term management for survival space beyond short-term arbitrage. This is not sentimentality, it is calculated rationality.

Renqi Says: Cycles will reward those companies that know how to adjust

The enlightenment given by Geely's Q3 report is not 'learning Geely means making money', but several more fundamental judgments.

First, competition in the stock market shifted its deciding factor from sales volume to pricing power. Average selling price and profit per vehicle are more important than any incremental growth, because they test product structure, brand potential, and cost control — these three things cannot be driven by price wars.

Second, integration capability is survival capability. The industry shifted from incremental to stock, the cost of multiple brands fighting separately is too high. Whoever can faster complete organizational consolidation and resource redistribution will be able to shorten the adjustment period. Geely went from manifesto to merger to sales general corporation, the pace was fast, effects became visible within months. Products and technology will change with cycles, but the mechanism of continuous correction and efficiency improvement will not.

Third, the next stage of globalization is systemization. Product export is the first step, localization of capacity, channels, supply chain, and R&D is the moat. In an era where trade friction is normalized, whoever plants their roots down will have a second growth curve.

The lack of profitability in the Chinese auto market, essentially, is that the dividends of the old model are exhausted, and the tickets for the new model have not yet been received. The significance of Geely's financial report lies not in how much more it earned than others, but in that it proved one thing: in this most competitive market, there are still companies that can exchange premiumization and globalization for unit price and profit, rather than exchanging price cuts for sales volume.

When the cycle goes down, more scarce than 'who can make money' is 'who dares not to cut prices / earn money while standing'. The weight of Geely's financial report does not lie in the numbers themselves, but in that it left a decent sample for this hemorrhaging industry: beyond the price war, there is another way out, and living very well.

The first three quarters of 2026, Chinese automobile exports continued to grow, but the growth slope was slowing down. The more critical change is not in the total volume, but in the structure: simply shipping cars out from Chinese ports is becoming a narrowing path.

The European Union imposed additional countervailing duties on Chinese pure electric vehicles, with comprehensive tax rates reaching up to 45.3%; the United States banned Chinese intelligent connected vehicles from entering the market on grounds of "national security" and pushed for permanent legislation of the ban; Southeast Asian markets saw a cluster of Chinese brands rushing into the same price band, transporting the domestic price war over intact. Tariffs, quotas, local content requirements, data compliance reviews, one layer after another, the profit margin of the pure export mode is being squeezed thinner and thinner.

At this turning point, Geely's overseas expansion model is worth attention.

Geely's financial report for the third quarter this year shows that the first three quarters of exports reached 798,000 vehicles, a year-on-year growth of 169%, of which new energy exports were 484,000 vehicles, up 531% year-on-year. Overseas sales exceeded 100,000 vehicles per month for four consecutive months, and the proportion of overseas sales in the third quarter was about 40%. The export growth rate in the third quarter ranked first among mainstream automakers.

Compared to the numbers, one question is quite worth paying attention to: Why did Geely become the automaker with the fastest overseas expansion this year? What is the essential difference between its overseas expansion and simply selling cars?

To answer this question, the answer is not in the numbers, but in the way of its exports. Geely is not shipping cars from China to overseas, but moving capacity, R&D, channels, supply chains, and cooperative ecosystems together overseas, using "industrial symbiosis" to replace "single-point export", and using open cooperation to replace closed self-construction.

Whether this path can be successful is not only about Geely, but also about whether there is a reusable template for Chinese automakers' globalization 2.0.

# Simultaneous Volume Increase Across Multiple Brands, Categories, and Regions #

Take a close look at the data structure of Geely's overseas expansion.

In the first three quarters, export volume was 798,000 vehicles, up 169% year-on-year; the third quarter exports were 323,000 vehicles, up 189% year-on-year, up 19% quarter-on-quarter; of which new energy exports were 484,000 vehicles, up 531% year-on-year. Overseas sales exceeded 100,000 vehicles per month for four consecutive months, and the full-year goal is to rush for 920,000 or even 1 million vehicles.

Splitting it up, it is not a short-term explosion in any one market or for any one car.

Zeekr exports broke 15,000 vehicles in both August and September, with exports contributing over 40% to the monthly sales in both months, firmly holding the first place in exports of Chinese premium brands; Zeekr 9X has launched sales in developed European countries such as Germany, France, and Sweden, with a starting price of nearly 1 million; Zeekr 7X global cumulative orders have exceeded 200,000 units.

Galaxy forms a combined force for global volume increase with three single products: Star Wish, Galaxy E5, and Starship 7; Lynk & Co is driven by 08, 02, and 900, establishing premium cognition in the left-hand drive market and widening opportunities in the right-hand drive market; China Star solidifies the fuel base with three single products: Binyue, Emgrand, and Boyue, and achieves "parallel development of fuel and electric" through the i-HEV product matrix.

Four brands, four price bands, four energy forms, all moving outward simultaneously. Zeekr raises the ceiling, Galaxy expands the base, Lynk & Co protects its personality, and China Star stabilizes fuel. This is not the overseas logic of "one hit car conquers the world", but the systematic overseas expansion of "simultaneous volume increase across multiple brands, categories, and regions".

Similarly, on the regional front, it is not a single-point bet. Europe, ASEAN, Latin America & Africa, Eastern Europe, and Middle East & Central Asia have their respective divisions. Overseas capacity exceeds 840,000 vehicles, 13 overseas factories have been put into production, covering more than 100 countries and regions, and more than 2,300 sales and service outlets have been built.

Single-point explosion relies on luck, multiple points blooming rely on systems. Geely's overseas growth is the result of five regions, four brands, and multiple product lines exerting force simultaneously, not because one market caught the wind and waves.

# Product Matrix and Technology: The Foundation of Systematic Overseas Expansion #

Geely's overseas product and technology foundation can be summarized as: "4 sets of 3" global hits and HEV overseas expansion.

First, look at the "4 sets of 3" global hit cars. China Star solidifies the fuel base with three single products: Binyue, Emgrand, and Boyue, and achieves "parallel development of fuel and electric" through intelligent renovation and i-HEV matrix; Galaxy forms a combined force for volume increase with three single products: Star Wish, Galaxy E5, and Starship 7; Lynk & Co is driven by 08, 02, and 900, establishing premium cognition in the left-hand drive market and expanding opportunities in the right-hand drive market; Zeekr focuses on 7X, 8X, and 9X to define new technology luxury.

Every brand has a clear main model, and every model has a clear target market. Relying on one car to eat the whole global market is unrealistic, even Toyota and Volkswagen cannot do it. Therefore, overseas expansion must form a product matrix system capability.

Compared to products, what is more worth mentioning separately is HEV overseas expansion. In 2025, HEV is set to explode in major global markets, among which the European market grew by 122%, Central and South America grew by 271%, and Chinese HEV exports increased by 94.1% year-on-year.

In overseas markets with weak charging facilities, high electricity prices, and lack of policy subsidies, HEV is the most natural and lowest cost choice for fuel car owners to upgrade and replace. No need to change refueling habits, no need to rely on charging networks, just refuel and go, fuel consumption is also significantly lower than traditional fuel cars.

Geely's i-HEV Smart Hybrid achieves more than 80% electric drive, with actual tested fuel consumption of 2.22L/100km, which is more than 12% lower than the Japanese hybrid benchmark. The China Star fuel series is fully popularizing i-HEV technology. As of September, cumulative sales are nearly 60,000 units, occupying more than 40% of Chinese brand HEV model sales, firmly ranking in the top tier of global HEV sales. Geely i-HEV models will officially go overseas in the first quarter of 2027, landing first in high-growth markets.

Looking deeper, Geely's joint venture HORSE Powertrain Company with Renault provides more than 8 million sets of powertrains for 25 automakers worldwide every year. This global supply chain system provides the underlying support for i-HEV overseas production and local adaptation. HEV overseas expansion is not "selling a few more cars", but embedding Chinese hybrid technology into the global powertrain supply chain, making Chinese technology one of the options for global automakers.

Product matrix and technology system are the foundation of systematic overseas expansion. Without this foundation, overseas factory construction, channel deployment, and brand building are castles in the air. With this foundation, localization in overseas markets has substantive things to land on.

# Five Key Overseas Regions: Precision Division of Labor and Key Breakthroughs #

Geely's globalization framework is called the "123456 Strategy". The core is to build a Geely overseas system and create five regions: Pan-European 600,000, ASEAN 500,000, Latin America & Africa 400,000, Eastern Europe 300,000, Middle East & Central Asia 200,000, striving for 2 million overseas within the next two to three years.

This division of labor scheme is crucial.

Europe is a key breakthrough market. Facing EU policy changes, Geely is taking the route of "in Europe, for Europe": collaborating with Ford and Volvo, completing systematic capacity layout around GEA and SEA architectures; acquiring partial equity of Ford's Spain plant; the joint venture factory with Ford will start production in the second half of next year.

Volvo becomes Lynk & Co's exclusive distributor in Europe. Lynk & Co joins Volvo's sales and after-sales network deep-cultivated for decades; European channels will reach 1,000 by year-end, covering a wider network with leading dealers in Portugal, Austria, and Switzerland. A central parts distribution center will be built in the Netherlands. Later, respond to the competition of "from eating fast to eating well" with premiumization.

ASEAN relies on Proton as an industrial hub. Relying on the Malaysia Proton factory, formulate differentiated KD assembly strategies according to the national conditions of each country, without one-size-fits-all.

Latin America deeply binds with Renault, achieving regional industrial coordination in manufacturing, channels, and supply chains. In the third quarter of this year, the first localization production result of Renault Geely Brazil company, Geely EX5 EM-i, went off the line, verifying the landing capability of the cooperation model.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia enter with light assets through outsourced KD, penetrating tariff barriers with a light asset model, entering quickly, without carrying heavy asset burdens; as for the Middle East and Africa, use Egypt as the industrial foundation, focus on breakthroughs in high-barrier markets, proceed step by step.

Five regions, five methods. The key to Geely's globalization is not average effort, but a combination of regional division, local adaptation, and light assets, cooperation models.

The underlying logic of this method is that different markets have different tariff structures, industrial foundations, and policy environments. Using one model to fight all markets will definitely hit a wall in some market. But using five models to fight five markets, entering each market in the most suitable way, this is the "regional wisdom" of systematic overseas expansion.

# Industrial Symbiosis: Geely's True Differentiation in Going Global #

Going global is not being done by Geely alone, but is the focus of the entire Chinese automobile industry at this moment. At this node, if one sentence is used to summarize Geely's overseas differentiation, it is: It is not "building a Geely factory" overseas, but "building local industry" overseas.

Traditional overseas expansion mode is closed self-construction. Buy land, build factory, hire people, deploy channels, do all links yourself. This mode has strong control, but large investment, long cycle, many local frictions, and easily triggers host country trade protection emotions; Geely takes another road, which is industry symbiosis-type overseas expansion, using openness to replace closure, using sharing to replace redundant construction, using long-term operation to replace short-term arbitrage.

Three cases can illustrate the operation of this model.

First case: Acquiring partial equity of Ford's Spain plant.

In July 2026, Geely acquired 34% equity of Ford's Valencia plant in Spain for 221 million euros, and both parties established a joint venture company to share capacity. Ford holds 66%, Geely holds 34%. Plans to start production of multi-energy models for the European market in 2028.

Valencia plant is one of the largest automobile factories in Europe, with an annual capacity of about 500,000 units, Ford's capacity utilization rate in Europe has long been insufficient. Geely did not build a factory from scratch, but used equity cooperation to access a mature European factory, share fixed costs, and share capacity. For Ford, idle capacity is revitalized; for Geely, local manufacturing capability is quickly in place; for the locals, employment and industrial chain obtained more long-term stability, benefiting all three parties.

Second case: Volvo becomes Lynk & Co's exclusive European distributor.

In September 2026, Geely and Volvo signed an agreement. Starting from January 2027, Volvo becomes Lynk & Co's exclusive distributor in Europe. Lynk & Co's brand logo and product positioning remain independent, but commercial operations in the European region are undertaken by Volvo. Volvo has deep-cultivated for decades in Europe, has mature sales networks, after-sales systems, and local industry relations. Lynk & Co accesses this network, skipping the long climbing period of self-built channels. There is no "Geely swallowing Volvo" or "Volvo subordinating Geely" in this, but division and collaboration of two brands in their respective advantages.

Third case: First car off the line of Renault Geely Brazil company.

As mentioned earlier, in the third quarter of this year, the first localization production result of Renault Geely Brazil company, Geely EX5 EM-i, went off the line. Geely deeply binds with Renault's manufacturing, channel, and supply resources in Latin America, using cooperation to complete capability co-building, rather than starting a new stove.

Behind these three cases, there is a same logic running through. Geely does not pursue "owning" the whole value chain overseas, but obtains capabilities through cooperation at key nodes, turns fixed costs into variable costs, turns heavy assets into light assets, and turns solitary fighting into a community of interests.

The core competitiveness of this model is not product price, but local industrial organizational capability and cooperative ecosystem. If an automaker can talk about capacity sharing with Ford in Europe, channel collaboration with Volvo, local production with Renault in Latin America, and KD assembly with Proton in ASEAN when talking, then what it sells is not just cars, but a plan of "making local industry benefit". This plan has less political resistance, faster landing speed, and stronger sustainability.

Geely's overseas competitiveness is no longer on a single product level, but cooperation capability in the eyes of many overseas industries. After all, in a global market where tariff barriers are getting higher and higher and localization requirements are getting stricter, the latter's moat is much deeper than the former.

# Globalization 2.0: Geely Paves Its Own Unique Path #

Back to the original question: Does Geely's "industry symbiosis-type" overseas expansion provide a reusable sample for Chinese automakers' globalization 2.0? The answer is: It provides a direction, but cannot be copied directly.

Reusable parts are the methods of overseas expansion, such as using cooperation to replace self-construction, using local industrial co-building to penetrate trade barriers, using multiple brands, multiple categories, and multiple regions to disperse risks, and using technology foundation to support local landing. This series of operations are of reference value for all Chinese automakers preparing to go from "selling cars" to "rooting".

The parts that cannot be copied are Geely's own resource talents. Geely can use Volvo's channels, Ford's capacity, Renault's Latin America network, and Proton's ASEAN hub because it spent ten years building a global partner network through acquisitions and joint ventures.

This network was not built in one day, nor is it replicable by every automaker. The "industry symbiosis" path that other Chinese automakers need to take may be cooperating with local dealer groups, cooperating with local energy enterprises, building charging networks with local governments, different forms, but the same logic.

But the overall direction is clear. The competition of Chinese automakers' globalization 2.0 is no longer "who exports more", but "who roots deeper overseas". Whether rooting deep or not, it depends not on export volume, but on local capacity, local R&D, local channels, local supply chains, and local partners.

In the fourth quarter, Geely's overseas expansion pace will accelerate. Zeekr 9X will export to Europe, Middle East, Central Asia; Zeekr 009 will be introduced to right-hand drive markets; Zeekr 7X overseas exports will continue to increase in volume; Lynk & Co deepens collaboration with European markets and Volvo, focusing on promoting Lynk & Co 900L and Lynk & Co 08; Galaxy M8 will launch this quarter, further completing the product matrix; the joint venture factory with Ford in Spain will start production in the second half of next year, European channels will reach 1,000 by year-end, and the overseas goal of 920,000 or even 1 million vehicles is highly likely to be completed.

But more important than completing the goal is that Geely is verifying one thing: Chinese automakers' overseas expansion can rely not on low-price dumping, not on single-point hits, not on closed self-construction, but on industrial symbiosis, cooperative co-building, and systematic landing to find their own position in the global market.

The ceiling of product exports has been pushed to the top by Chinese brands, but the ceiling of systematic overseas expansion is still in the stage of upward touching. Whether the crack torn open by Geely with "industrial symbiosis" can become a grand road depends on whether this model can truly take root in Europe, ASEAN, and Latin America in the next two or three years. At least from now on, the trend has been formed.

On October 29, Geely released its financial report for the third quarter of 2026.

The report shows that Q3 revenue was 99 billion yuan, up 10% year-over-year (YoY) and up 11% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ); core net profit attributable to the parent company was 5.21 billion yuan, up 32% YoY and up 2% QoQ, hitting a historical high. Within the 5.21 billion yuan core net profit, the core net profit attributable to the parent company per vehicle for the first three quarters was approximately 6,664 yuan, up 37% YoY.

In an era where the profit margin of the entire industry's vehicle manufacturing has fallen to single digits and the profit per vehicle for the vast majority of automakers continues to decline, placing the two figures "10% revenue growth rate" and "37% core profit per vehicle growth rate" side by side is the true message Geely's Q3 report aims to convey — rewriting the cost structure.

To understand this main thread, one must first look at a more basic comparison. In the first three quarters, Geely's total sales volume was 2.235 million vehicles, up 3% YoY; revenue was 272.6 billion yuan, up 13% YoY; core net profit attributable to the parent company was 14.9 billion yuan, up 41% YoY.

The growth rates of sales volume, revenue, and profit increase sequentially, forming a ladder of "Core Profit Growth Rate > Revenue Growth Rate > Sales Volume Growth Rate". This is not only extremely rare in the 2026 automotive market but also forms a sharp contrast with the common situation of peers where "sales volume is maintained by price cuts, revenue is barely held up by sales volume, and profits are squeezed from both ends".

It can be seen that, significantly distinguishing from the traditional habitual understanding of the past, the relationship between Geely's profit margin and sales volume is no longer a simple linear relationship.

The core mechanism behind this is closely related to what Geely mentioned in its Q3 brief as a "Leader in Global AI Intelligent Vehicles". Geely is already using a complete AI vehicle building logic to rewrite the cost structure of traditional automakers, which was "each car model developed independently", into a "one platform, multi-brand reuse" structure.

The basis for this judgment is reflected in the "divergence" of R&D investment in the Q3 report. Total R&D investment for the first three quarters was basically flat YoY, but the R&D investment ratio dropped by 0.7 percentage points to 5.5%.

Investment was not cut, but the expense ratio dropped. This phenomenon is most reasonably explained by the improvement in the reuse rate of R&D results. In practice, Geely's global AI technology system, formed with "1+2+N" as the core, based on the WAM (World Activity Model), has achieved full integration of the intelligent driving domain, cockpit domain, and chassis domain.

After the four major AI architectures modularized the underlying capabilities of the whole vehicle, the cost of flow of technical results between different brands and different models will decrease significantly. When R&D for different brands and different models is no longer "starting from scratch", but rather doing differentiated configurations on a unified "vehicle brain", multi-brands have transformed from a cost burden into a lever for R&D efficiency.

As the absolute value of R&D investment is controlled within a certain range, with the rapid expansion of the number of supported brands, models, and markets, the speed at which the R&D denominator is diluted is faster than the speed of growth of the R&D numerator.

Two other lines on the expense side provide corroborating evidence. Administrative expense ratio decreased 0.1 percentage points YoY to 1.6%, and sales expense ratio decreased 0.1 percentage points YoY to 5.6%. Against the backdrop of high-speed expansion in overseas markets and four brands focusing efforts simultaneously, all three expense lines decreased across the board.

Here, two types of completely different cost improvements must be distinguished. One is optimization "saved" through price suppression in procurement, cutting expenses, and streamlining organizations. Although direct, it decreases with each use, has a clear ceiling, and often comes at the cost of sacrificing long-term capabilities.

The other type is "cost derived from structure", where efficiency improvements brought about by changes will continue to amplify as scale expands — Geely's expense ratio decrease in Q3 obviously belongs to this category.

Zeekr is the most direct footnote to this mechanism. In Q3, Zeekr delivered 110,000 vehicles, with a cumulative 288,000 vehicles for the first three quarters, experiencing double-digit growth YoY and QoQ for 8 consecutive months. The annual target of 300,000 vehicles has been completed by 96%. Single-month delivery in September broke 37,000, doubling YoY growth.

In the severe environment of this year where brands trade volume for price, Zeekr has charted a path of "simultaneous increase in volume, price, and profit". Its significance does not lie in "selling at a high price", but in that it bears the verification cost of the most cutting-edge technology, while the marginal cost of reusing the verification results approaches zero.

One year after the launch of Zeekr 9X, it still achieved over 7,000 monthly sales in the 500,000-level market, ranking first in sales among vehicles over 500,000 yuan domestically from January to September; Zeekr 7X broke 10,000 for three consecutive months, and Zeekr 007GT maintained monthly sales between 7,000 and 10,000. Zeekr has simultaneously succeeded in the routes of high-end pure electric and hybrid, SUV and sedan. This means the verified results are not exclusive to a single model and can be reused between different powertrain forms and different body shapes.

Specifically in the Q3 report, Zeekr's sales volume accounted for 12.9% of total sales volume for the first three quarters, an increase of 6.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year; revenue share reached 31.3%, an increase of 13.6 percentage points compared to last year, with revenue share far higher than sales volume share.

This is in itself the financial confirmation of the R&D reuse mechanism at the brand level. A platform development and architecture extended from a base generates revenue returns on the Zeekr brand far higher than other brands, while R&D costs have not increased proportionally.

The entire mechanism is not established only on Zeekr; overseas business is another clear aspect revealed in the Q3 report.

Q3 overseas export sales volume was 323,000 vehicles, up 189% YoY and up 19% QoQ; first three quarters surged 169% YoY to 798,000 vehicles, of which new energy vehicle exports reached 484,000 vehicles, up 531% YoY. Q3 overseas sales share was about 40%, overseas monthly sales exceeded 100,000 vehicles for four consecutive months, and Geely's overseas export growth rate was first among mainstream automakers in Q3.

"Acceleration" needs to be understood within the 2026 overseas export environment. Geely faces geopolitical game theory at this time, including the EU's extra countervailing tariffs on China's plug-in hybrid vehicles entering the implementation phase, multiple Southeast Asian countries tightening foreign investment factory policies, and a general increase in global trade barriers, etc.

Yet at this time, Geely's "Industry Symbiotic" asset-light model showed its ability to resist pressure. And the impact of this model on the Q3 cost structure has three real transmission chains.

The first is saving fixed costs.

Building factories with heavy assets means high depreciation, long payback periods, and risks of idle capacity. These sink into the cost structure to become long-term burdens. Although this path is widely adopted, Geely did not take it.

The "123456 Strategy" released in mid-August clarified that the core idea is not to build factories independently, but to build a Geely overseas system, creating five major regions: Greater Europe 600,000, ASEAN 500,000, Latin America/Africa 400,000, Eastern Europe 300,000, and Middle East/Central Asia 200,000, using cooperative capacity to replace own capital expenditure.

On the path, Geely cooperated with Ford, Volvo, etc. in Europe, completing a systematic capacity layout around GEA and SEA vehicle architectures; in ASEAN, relied on the Malaysia Proton factory to build an industrial hub; in Latin America, deeply bound Renault resources; in Eastern Europe/Central Asia, entered quickly via OEM KD methods.

First three quarters, Geely put 13 overseas factories into production. While overseas capacity exceeded 840,000 vehicles, this part of rigid expenditure was also converted into variable costs, making the cost structure naturally lighter.

The second is to avoid tariff costs.

EU countervailing tariffs are essentially a fee added to export costs. The common point of a series of actions such as acquiring partial equity in Ford's Spanish factory, Volvo becoming Lynk & Co's exclusive European distributor, and the first local production result of Renault Geely Brazil Company, the Geely EX5 EM-i, going offline, is that Geely is promoting localization from "sales localization" to "manufacturing and channel localization", upgrading tariff avoidance from "borrowing" to "co-construction", further improving the stability of the cost structure.

The third is to amplify the R&D amortization denominator.

The same set of R&D investment, selling 100,000 vehicles domestically and 300,000 vehicles globally, results in completely different amortization costs per vehicle.

Geely has currently created "4 sets of 3" global best-seller cars. China Star uses Coolray, Emgrand, Boyue to stabilize the fuel base; Galaxy uses Xingyuan, Galaxy E5, Starship 7 to form global volume synergy; Lynk & Co uses 08, 02, and 900 to drive; Zeekr focuses on 7X, 8X, 9X. The R&D investment for every global model is continuously diluted on top of the Q3 export volume of 323,000 vehicles.

Connecting the three chains together, one will also find the tightness of Geely's asset-light model in internal collaboration.

The reason why this model can have such a big impact on the cost structure is that the prerequisite is still that the R&D side has achieved cross-brand, cross-market reuse. If a new adaptation plan needs to be developed every time entering an overseas market, the fixed costs saved by the asset-light model will soon be eaten up by adaptation costs.

Regarding high pricing ability in overseas markets, Zeekr 9X has already begun sales in developed European countries such as Germany, France, and Sweden, with a starting price nearing 1 million; Zeekr brand export sales volume in August and September both broke 15,000 vehicles, with exports contributing over 40% to the monthly sales for those months, firmly ranking first among Chinese high-end brand exports.

What these reflect is not the optimization of the cost structure, but the confirmation of revenue quality. The cost side makes the denominator smaller, the revenue side makes the numerator larger, and the two jointly support the increase in profit per vehicle.

Of course, Geely's AI vehicle building rewriting of the cost curve is currently still mainly concentrated on the decrease in R&D expense ratio and reduction in vehicle amortization, and has not yet significantly become an independent variable on the Q3 income statement. However, the scaled supply of AI to consumer experience is currently happening and generating positive impact.

The progress of i-HEV Intelligent Engine Hybrid can be concretized as another facet of this logic. This technology, through an architecture of "Electric Drive Dominated, Oil-Electric Synergy", achieves over 80% electric drive, with actual fuel consumption of 2.22L/100km, more than 12% lower than the Japanese hybrid benchmark.

Currently, the China Star fuel series is comprehensively popularizing i-HEV. As of September, cumulative sales reached nearly 60,000 vehicles, occupying over 40% of Chinese brand HEV vehicle sales. Its cost significance lies in that, even if the fuel vehicle overall market declined severely, China Star still sold 293,000 vehicles in Q3, and with the sales performance of 874,000 vehicles in the first three quarters, it firmly ranked first in fuel vehicle sales. Obviously, this base is not sustained by price cuts, but by technological upgrades.

At the end of September, Geely released Megawatt-level Intelligent Charging technology, with a single gun power reaching 2.2 MW; 800V high-voltage platform has covered the 120,000 to 300,000 yuan mainstream price range, with main models such as Galaxy TT and the new Lynk & Co 20 already equipped; in terms of charging infrastructure, an "Person, Vehicle, Pile, Cloud, Network, Storage" AI charging network was built, achieving strategic cooperation with NIO, and carrying out open sharing and industrial synergy in the charging and battery swapping fields.

As of early October, Qianli Haohan accumulated 1.073 million users, cumulative mileage reached 3.14 billion kilometers, activation rate reached as high as 93.9%, accumulated avoidance over 12.18 million times; Flyme Auto accumulated installations in the first three quarters exceeded 1.326 million vehicles, global users exceeded 3.59 million. In Q4, Qianli Haohan G-ASD will undergo a comprehensive upgrade, supporting city roaming NOA, end-to-end AEB, and natural voice vehicle control.

Qianli Haohan's 1.073 million users, Flyme Auto's 3.59 million global users, 800V covering mainstream price ranges, Megawatt intelligent charging and NIO's charging synergy, these are all counted as infrastructure and user entry points for scaled implementation of AI capabilities, and also determine that AI is transforming from "indirect contribution on the cost side" to "attributable contribution on the revenue side".

Rewriting the cost structure also requires a business prerequisite: multi-brands must not step on each other. If the four brands consume each other within the same price range, the efficiency of R&D reuse will be offset by internal competition, and the scale advantage of asset-light overseas expansion will also be eaten up by channel duplicate construction.

Data from the Q3 report shows that this prerequisite is already in place. Galaxy has seen consecutive QoQ growth since August, with double-digit YoY and QoQ growth in September, exceeding 130,000 in a single month. Galaxy E5 broke 10,000 monthly sales for four consecutive months; Galaxy Starship 7 increased continuously to break 22,000 in September; Xingyuan reached 1 million vehicles produced within two years of launch, breaking the global speed record for single model million-vehicle production.

Lynk & Co has stabilized QoQ growth since August, with September sales volume exceeding 18,000 vehicles, new energy ratio exceeding 90%, and new energy ratio in the first three quarters exceeding 70%. China Star September sales volume broke 100,000 vehicles, with double-digit YoY and QoQ growth. Zeekr September deliveries broke 37,000 vehicles, doubling YoY.

The fact that the four brands achieved simultaneous YoY/QoQ improvement in Q3 is no coincidence.

Corresponding to the move to set up a sales headquarters in early August to integrate marketing resources of its brands, and facts such as Galaxy TT achieving delivery of over 10,000 vehicles within 30 days of launch, Galaxy Warship 700 achieving over 10,000 orders within 12 minutes of launch, with high-spec version accounting for 90%; Lynk & Co 07 GT achieving delivery of over 10,000 vehicles within two months of launch, and the new Lynk & Co 20 achieving over 14,600 orders within 1 hour of launch.

It can be found that Geely's integration at the organizational level allowed the four brands to avoid internal consumption during the most intense period of the price war, concentrating resources on their respective favored price ranges and market segments.

A deeper organizational change than setting up a sales headquarters occurred in mid-August. An Conghui succeeded Li Shufu as Chairman of the Board of Geely Automobile. This company has formally moved from the "founder-driven" startup and development phase to the "system and team-driven" mature phase.

How to transition from founder governance to system governance is a question all successful enterprises must answer. The founder's strong judgment is an irreplaceable asset in the early stage of the enterprise, but the larger the enterprise scale, the more complex the business, and the more globalized the market, the lower the marginal return of personal judgment, and the higher the marginal value of system and team decisions. Geely chose to complete this transition at this point, essentially a confirmation of its own development stage: it is already too big to operate relying on just one person's judgment.

Li Shufu's "resignation" is not an exit, but a role transition. He withdrew from the position of "enterprise operator" and instead became a "system designer" and "value guardian". The significance of this transition for Geely is indirectly but clearly projected in the financial data of the Q3 report.

A company operated personally by the founder often relies on personal judgment and ad-hoc decisions for cost optimization; efficiency is high but not reproducible; a company driven by systems and teams has cost optimization as an endogenous result of processes and mechanisms; it is slower but sustainable. Geely's Q3 expense ratio declining across the board, R&D reuse rate increasing, and four-brand collaboration improvement are not results that one person's decision can bring at once, but products of a mechanism operating continuously.

The relationship between this matter and the cost structure is not direct, but it is fundamental enough. Rewriting the cost structure requires long-term investment, and long-term investment fears uncertainty at the governance level most. When a company's strategic direction no longer sways with personnel changes, mechanisms like R&D reuse, platform modularization, and asset-light overseas expansion that take three to five years to take effect are only then possible to be executed stably.

Looking at Geely's Q3 report value from this angle again, it does not lie in proving that Geely can still grow, but in proving that Geely's cost structure no longer relies on revenue growth rate.

Functions can be chased, but the mechanism of cost structure cannot. This is the earliest and hardest-to-copy layer of evidence that "Global Leader in AI Intelligent Vehicles" has in finance.

In early October 2026, a familiar name appeared on the test drive schedule of European media: Geely. At the carefully designed test venue, multiple new cars waited for inspection by European professional media. With flawless driving quality and a tech luxury cabin exceeding expectations, discussions beside the cars quickly shifted from "How is this car" to a more topical question: What exactly does a Chinese automotive group rooted in Europe for nearly two decades want to achieve by making a high-profile appearance at the Paris Auto Show?

The answer given by Geely is much longer than a list of participating models. At this edition of the Paris Auto Show, Geely Automobile Holdings presented its three brands—Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr—in a joint premiere, with a new energy product matrix ranging from mainstream to luxury lined up in a row. The exhibition lasts only seven days, but the commitment is calculated in ten-year units.

Three booths, three strategies, placing "from mainstream to luxury" on the same table

To understand Geely, look at brand segmentation first. Three booths represent three markets, executing a combination of "front-end segmentation, back-end sharing". The message Geely wants to convey is straightforward: for its first participation in the Paris Auto Show, it pushed the Geely Monjaro EM-i to the European premiere slot and simultaneously launched it in the high-spec market. This car is Geely's first D-segment PHEV global vehicle. Choosing to premiere in Paris and prioritize overseas launch, the attitude itself speaks volumes.

Also on display was the Galaxy Starship 700, premiering in Europe after its global release on October 10th, along with models like Geely E5, Geely E2, and Geely Starray EM-i, filling the booth with new energy product lines ranging from household to off-road.

The highlight of the Lynk & Co booth is the European premiere of Lynk & Co 07GT. As the brand's first B-segment PHEV Wagon, it is the core product of the brand's "Broadening Strategy", entering the travel car consumption scenario familiar to Europeans with trendy sporty design. This means Lynk & Co's product matrix in Europe has formally expanded from SUV to the wagon category favored by local users.

The Zeekr booth appeared steadier, placing the flagship Zeekr 9X, positioned as luxury within the group system, in the center. This vehicle was designed by the Gothenburg design team and is a key strategic model for Zeekr entering the European luxury SUV niche market. The new Zeekr 7X beside it was equally significant: achieving comprehensive advancement in dimensions such as ADAS, cabin, exterior, color, range, and performance, it is planned to commence first deliveries in Q1 2027, while its global cumulative production has already broken 200,000 units.

Three brands, three positioning: Geely targets the global mainstream mass market, Lynk & Co targets the high-end new energy market, and Zeekr targets the luxury market. Together, the three booths are a microcosm of Geely's global expansion.

2.23 million, 798,000: Globalization is not a slogan, it's the numbers

To judge whether an automaker's globalization is serious or just posing, the numbers are the baseline.

First, the scale. From January to September 2026, Geely Automobile Holdings' cumulative sales exceeded 2.23 million units, setting a new historical high for the same period; among which overseas exports were 797,670 units, up 169% year-on-year. A more noteworthy rhythm is that overseas exports exceeded 100,000 units monthly for 4 consecutive months, with September single-month exports reaching 106,685 units, up 162% year-on-year. Because the pace achieved in the first 9 months, the annual export target was raised from 640,000 to 920,000 units, sprinting towards the million-unit level.

Next, the network. The group's business covers over 100 countries and regions, with over 2,300 sales and service outlets built; Geely brand entered 88 countries and regions with overseas outlets over 1,200; Lynk & Co business expanded to 53 overseas countries; Zeekr covers over 60 countries and regions with nearly 800 global stores. The R&D and manufacturing footprint also landed overseas: 5 major design centers and 5 major engineering R&D centers arranged in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Gothenburg, Milan, Coventry, Frankfurt, etc.; and 11 overseas manufacturing plants in operation in Malaysia, UK, Brazil, etc.

The technical foundation supporting these figures is also displayed on the booth: i-HEV Smart Engine Hybrid achieved engine thermal efficiency of 48.41% and comprehensive fuel consumption per 100km as low as 2.22L, breaking Guinness World Records; 5th Generation Geely Smart Charging Pile single gun peak power 2.2MW, 4 minutes ready to drive, 8 minutes fully charged; New Generation Shield Gold Brick Battery is at the forefront of mass-produced vehicle level with 12C peak charging rate; Thunder 16-in-1 Smart Electric Drive overall efficiency 93.8%, first equipped with Geely Galaxy TT, creating two Guinness World Records: "Lowest Energy Consumption Around Qinghai Lake" and "Longest Continuous Dual-Car Drift on Wet Roads". On technical routes, pure electric, plug-in hybrid, extended range, hybrid, and alcohol hydrogen five routes run in parallel, with core three-electric systems fully self-developed. To summarize in one sentence, "Technology independence, full market coverage".

"One Geely" Going Global: Why systemic operation is more resilient than single-product breakthrough

Single brand going global bets on a hit car; system going global bets on risk resilience and localization speed. Geely's going global logic obviously belongs to the latter. It relies on the "One Geely" system of the group's complete industrial ecosystem: back-end R&D and supply chain highly shared, front-end three brands maintain independent positioning and user operations, precisely covering different niche markets.

This system has more obvious advantages when facing European market barriers. Geely follows an "Industrial Symbiosis" light-asset cooperation path: not building new factories, not building new capacity, but sharing capacity, sharing market, sharing results with global peers. Deep cooperation with partners like Volvo, Renault, and Ford covers technology, channels, manufacturing, powertrains, able to handle tariffs and investment barriers, and quickly scale up localization.

Starting from January 2027, Volvo Cars will become Lynk & Co's exclusive dealer in Europe. The significance of this cooperation goes beyond channel agency: relying on the group's internal asset portfolio, mobilizing operational and channel capabilities of mature luxury brands within the system to empower Lynk & Co, achieving deeper localized operations. This "incubating brands using the system" approach is hard for single brands to replicate.

From product export to local manufacturing, Geely's globalization is shifting gears: relying on global capacity layout and partner factory network, from "selling to Europe" to "making in Europe, selling in Europe".

Europe wants not just "Exhibitors", but "Co-builders"

At the auto show, products are compared; off the show, compliance, R&D, and responsibility are compared. The landing point of "Long-term" is exactly outside the booth. Europe's test for outsiders, product capability is just one link; Geely's response is to become a co-builder on the industrial chain.

Compliance first. In March 2026, Geely's Vast Horizon G-ASD System obtained UN R171 certification, becoming the first Chinese automaker to obtain this certification, securing the "passport" to the European high-end ADAS market first, bringing high-end ADAS solutions meeting UNECE regulatory requirements to Europe.

Also in March 2026, Geely Tech Europe Company was established, integrating R&D businesses in Gothenburg, Sweden and Frankfurt, Germany, with the goal of compressing the new car release interval between China and abroad to within 6 months. Gothenburg's design and R&D centers serve Zeekr and Lynk & Co, Italian design center serves Geely brand. Europe is not just Geely's sales market, but also an R&D and design stronghold.

ESG and Safety are another yardstick for "long-term" measured by European partners. Geely was selected in S&P Global "Sustainability Yearbook 2026", is the only Chinese automaker shortlisted; carbon emissions per vehicle over its full lifecycle in 2025 decreased by 25.5% compared to 2020, exceeding the 25% phase target, continuously promoting 2045 Carbon Neutrality target; Lynk & Co conducted lifecycle assessments for 01, 02, 08, European self-operated facilities use 100% renewable power.

At the safety level, the group already has 10 car models with Euro NCAP 5-star rating, covering products from Zeekr 007GT to Geely E2 of different positioning; Global All-Domain Safety Center holds five Guinness World Records, open to the entire industry; Geely is also the first Chinese automaker to join the European Road Safety Information System (DFRS), participating in Europe's real-time road hazard information network via anonymized data sharing.

Conclusion

Auto show ends, spotlights fade, cars on the booth will change one after another. But what Geely brought to Europe—nearly 20 years of cooperation depth, 11 factories, 5 major R&D design centers, network covering over 100 countries and regions, and the stance of "Grow together with European industry"—will not disappear with the end of the exhibition period.

The three booths at the Paris Auto Show are a mirror of Geely's globalization: long-term deep cultivation, so dare to stretch the timeline to 20 years; systemic operation, so three brands can fight their own battles, sharing the same back-end; industrial symbiosis, so can turn the European market from "Destination" to "Co-building Place".

This "Long-Term Commitment" cannot be written in the participation list, must be fulfilled with the next 20 years.

October 29, Geely Automobile (0175.HK) released its Q3 2026 financial report. The report shows that the company's revenue and core net profit attributable to shareholders have both reached historic highs, with operating quality continuing to improve.

In Q3 2026, Geely achieved revenue of 99 billion yuan, up 10% year-over-year; core net profit attributable to shareholders was 5.21 billion yuan, up 32% year-over-year. Cumulative revenue from January to September was 272.6 billion yuan, up 13% year-over-year; core net profit attributable to shareholders was 14.9 billion yuan, up 41% year-over-year.

In terms of sales, Geely's cumulative sales from January to September reached 2.235 million units, up 3% year-over-year, also breaking historical records. Domestic market share reached 11.1%, with market shares for fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles rising in tandem. The overseas business accelerated significantly; exports from January to September were 798,000 units, skyrocketing 169% year-over-year. Among them, new energy exports were 484,000 units, up 531% year-over-year, ranking first among independent brand exports in multiple countries including Sweden, Malaysia, and Mexico.

Multi-brand matrix working in synergy. Zeekr sales from January to September reached 288,000 units, doubling year-over-year, with multiple high-end models taking the top spot in their sub-segments; Lynk & Co targets the mid-to-high-end market, with new energy share rising to 71%; Geely Galaxy solidified its position in the mainstream new energy first tier, sales from January to September were 877,000 units; Geely China Star fuel vehicles ranked first in sales among independent brand fuel and fuel-hybrid models for ten consecutive years.

On the technology front, Geely relies on full-domain AI for continuous iteration. Geely Smart Charge next-generation AI energy replenishment technology and Xingrui PowerMind energy brain have been deployed. The deployment of the Qianli Haohan G-ASD intelligent driving system exceeded one million units, and City NOA officially launched in Paris.

It is understood that in the fourth quarter, Geely will continue to launch multiple new models. Xingyue L PLUS, Galaxy M8, Lynk & Co 900L and other models will appear successively. Zeekr will deploy the full-stack 900V high-voltage architecture, gathering strength to sprint towards the annual sales target.

Author | Chen Pingan

Produced by | Roadside Coffee in

Summary: A global automaker needs smooth edges.

The European battle for Chinese automakers is not in the bustle of the Paris Motor Show, but in the steady, incremental cultivation of the European market.

Through this year's Paris Motor Show, we may need to rethink a question: When Chinese automakers go global comprehensively, should they use Chinese solutions to reshape the global market, or should they transform themselves into a puzzle piece embedded in the global market?

The former implies stronger aggressiveness and more rework work, while the latter requires an enterprise to fundamentally transform itself into a true global automaker, polishing its edges to seamlessly integrate into the global market, though this puzzle piece will inevitably carry a new image.

Currently, all Chinese automakers are shouting "Localization" strategies, but obviously not all automakers have the capability for "Localization", and "Localization" also has a hierarchy of superiority, such as global cars and special market cars, while the former essentially requires the "foundation" of a true global automaker.

After watching the "showing off of uniqueness" of major automakers at the Paris Motor Show, I believe Geely Automotive can be said to be a firm practitioner of the "Embedded Global Market Strategy".

No consumer filtering

Although we have always used Chinese automaker globalization to describe the overseas development of China's automotive industry, in reality the center stage of Chinese automakers' current overseas expansion is new energy vehicles. Some products capable of going overseas for some automakers need to filter markets and consumers, while Geely's uniqueness lies in the fact that it can provide products of any power form for any market demand globally.

Geely has always adhered to parallel multiple power technology routes, covering five major technology routes: pure electric, plug-in hybrid, extended-range, fuel hybrid, and alcohol hydrogen, and the core three-electric systems are fully self-developed in stacks, allowing flexible adaptation to differentiated needs of different global markets. Taking fuel vehicles as an example, in China fuel vehicles have become "non-mainstream", but globally they still account for over 70%.

Chinese new energy vehicles can of course go replace those fuel vehicles, but if we can also grab a piece of the cake from within fuel vehicles, isn't it more efficient? This is the advantage Geely possesses. The Geely China Star products displayed at the Paris Motor Show are equivalent to showing off strength head-on on the battlefield where opponents are most proficient, the difficulty behind this is not necessarily higher than just showing off new energy vehicles.

Geely's i-HEV technology, just released in April this year, also targets the fuel-electric hybrid technology popularized by Japanese brands globally. Geely has determined a strategy to fully adopt i-HEV for fuel vehicles and will accelerate pushing to the global market subsequently.

Even more astonishing is that Geely has even become a key member in the global fuel power supply chain. Its Haoshi Power, jointly built with Renault, has become one of the top five power units globally, with products supplied to many global well-known brands.

At the same time, Geely does not pick price segments. It owns multiple brands such as Geely Automobile, Geely Galaxy, Lynk & Co, Zeekr, Proton, Volvo, etc., forming a global brand matrix ranging from mainstream to luxury. Geely's multi-brand participation in the Paris Motor Show is not just to assemble a lineup. The multiple exhibition models brought by these brands either are already hot-selling in Europe, or are about to launch to the market, or are already well-known.

The spectacle of the Zeekr brand booth being packed is more convincing than any boasting words.

More importantly, none of these models are Europe-exclusive cars; they all have corresponding models found domestically, because Geely has already entered the "Global Car" era, and every car was designed considering the global market from the start, so they can cover the global market with an extremely short "time gap", and can even launch simultaneously in China and abroad.

The above are just the "appearances" of Geely as a global automaker. Supporting these appearances is the fully self-developed global technology foundation, the "One Geely" multi-brand coordinated combat system, and even more, the corporate aspiration that lets Chinese cars run around the globe.

"Embedded" Local Ecosystem

The other deeper meaning of "Localization" is how to participate in the game using the "rules of the game" of the local market and score high, so the importance of "Compliance" keeps highlighting, in this aspect Geely is also in the front line.

First, because there are brands like Volvo and Proton within the system, Geely possesses richer experience in global operations than other automakers. Especially the development after Geely acquired Volvo, it can be called a model case for Chinese enterprises' overseas M&A.

Secondly, in terms of implementing the global production and manufacturing system, Geely adopted an asset-light model distinct from other Chinese automakers, not building new factories/capacity, but sharing capacity, sharing markets, and sharing results with global peers.

In Europe, Geely can leverage Volvo's capacity and channels. In September 2026, both parties completed the agreement. Starting from January 2027, Volvo Cars will become the exclusive dealer for Lynk & Co in Europe.

In the first few months of this year, Geely also officially reached a cooperation with Ford. Geely acquired 34% equity of Ford's Valencia factory for 221 million euros and established a joint venture. The joint venture will start operations in the first half of 2027, and the first car will come off the line in 2028.

With a small cash investment, you can obtain the capacity of a factory with an annual output of about 500,000 vehicles. It only takes about one and a half years to put into production, and can directly connect to the existing supplier system, has a mature industrial worker foundation. Product maturity and capacity ramp-up speed are more guaranteed.

In Brazil and South Korea, Geely conducts production and sales by leveraging Renault's local capacity and channels through cooperation with Renault. In Malaysia and the broader ASEAN market, Geely relies on Proton's capacity.

This asset-light model can not only effectively respond to tariff and investment barriers but also rapidly increase the scale of localization.

Finally, entering the overseas market requires various qualifications/regulatory compliance certifications, this is a hard threshold, and Geely has already taken the lead in action.

Geely is the only Chinese automaker selected for S&P Global's "Sustainability Yearbook 2026". In March 2026, Geely's Qianli Haohan G-ASD system under Geely obtained UN R171 certification, becoming the first Chinese automaker to obtain this certification. There are already 10 models from Geely Holding Group that have received Euro NCAP 5-star ratings. Geely also became the first Chinese automaker to join the European Road Safety Information System (DFRS).

All this demonstrates Geely's determination and execution ability to integrate into the global market.

Conclusion

China's automotive globalization must be a long and torturous process. Different routes will have their own challenges to face. We cannot judge their pros and cons, but from the basic logic of business, shared prosperity and win-win cooperation must be the most long-lasting and stable.

Moreover, only by first becoming the underlying foundational force of the global market can we talk about how to use Chinese wisdom to reshape it.

The Chinese automotive industry clearly became a highlight at the Paris Auto Show, but as Chinese automotive companies enter Europe, is it another round of 'involution' in the European market, or is it truly establishing the status of 'Chinese Brands' locally? At present, this is a 'critical moment' for Chinese cars in Europe. Geely's strategic layout in the European market may provide a demonstration sample for the long-term development of Chinese car brands in the European market.

On October 12, Geely Auto Group showcased its full lineup for the first time at the Paris Auto Show. Its three brands Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr gathered at the Paris Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center. Geely Monjaro EM-i, Lynk & Co 07GT made their European premieres. Galaxy Starship 700, Zeekr 9X, all-new Zeekr 7X, and other heavy hitters appeared together.

This exhibition participation was not just a centralized display of models, but also sent a strong signal: Geely's phased report card of nearly 20 years of deep cultivation in Europe and promoting 'systematic global expansion', is also an important practical sample for Chinese brands reshaping value overseas, moving from 'product output' to 'value output'.

Three Brands Together: One Auto Show, One European Localized Business System Reconstruction

At this Paris Auto Show, Geely presented not just a display of single car models, but a complete European localized business system. Relying on the underlying logic of 'One Geely', the group shares R&D, supply chain, and global resources on the back end, while maintaining independent positioning and independent operations of Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr on the front end. They cover mainstream, high-end, and luxury markets respectively, forming a complete layered brand matrix and building a commercial foundation for multi-price band collaborative operations.

From operating data, Geely's overseas business growth has entered an accelerated realization cycle. In the first 9 months of 2026, the group's cumulative sales exceeded 2.23 million units, setting a historic high for the same period; overseas exports reached 797,670 units, a year-on-year increase of 169%, with monthly exports exceeding 100,000 units for 4 consecutive months. September exports reached 106,685 units, a year-on-year increase of 162%. The group raised its annual export target from 640,000 units to 920,000 units, striving for a scale of over 1 million units in overseas annual sales.

The growth signals in the European market are more strategically significant: In September 2026, the combined single-month sales of the three brands in the EU market first exceeded 10,000 units. According to plans, the overseas sales target for the next 2 to 3 years is to hit 2 million units, with Pan-Europe and Eastern Europe combined targeting 900,000 units. The European market bears nearly half of Geely's globalization incremental growth, making it the core strategic market determining the group's long-term valuation and overseas profitability.

The product layout on the exhibition stand is the most intuitive carrier of this business system. The Geely brand targets the mainstream mass market, has entered 27 European countries, and has over 450 sales outlets. Monjaro EM-i, as Geely's first priority overseas release of a D-class electric hybrid global car, debuted first; Galaxy Starship 700 landed in Paris immediately after its global release on October 10, bringing brand new intelligent off-road technology to Europe.

Lynk & Co positions itself in the high-end new energy sector, business covering 25 European countries and over 140 sales outlets. The first B-class plug-in hybrid shooting brake 07GT enters the European traditional shooting brake track with shooting brake aesthetics, accurately grasping local consumer preferences.

Zeekr focuses on the luxury market, business covering 22 European countries. In 2026, European delivery volume increased by 200% year-on-year, becoming one of the fastest growing luxury car brands locally; the flagship model Zeekr 9X has opened orders in Europe, with the German market starting price at €119,500, successfully joining the European luxury SUV camp, completing the value verification of Chinese brands breaking upwards.

The three brands guard their respective tracks, backend technical base is highly interoperable, fully covering mainstream, high-end, and luxury price bands. This is the core competitive advantage of the 'One Geely' system expansion, distinguishing it from other single-brand overseas expansion models.

System reconstruction is not just brand layering and product matrix building, but also the reconstruction of manufacturing and channel localization business models. Facing Europe's strict tariff barriers, industrial policies, and environmental regulations, Geely abandoned the high-risk path of fully building heavy assets on its own, walking out a light-asset collaboration model of 'industrial symbiosis'.

The group and Ford jointly built a manufacturing joint company around the Valencia factory in Spain, sharing mature capacity, sharing fixed investment and model development costs, filling the shortfall of localized manufacturing in the core Western European market, landing the 'Europe Production, Europe Sales' closed loop.

At the channel level, starting from 2027, Volvo Cars will become Lynk & Co's exclusive dealer in Europe. Lynk & Co leverages Volvo's retail network and after-sales system precipitated over decades to rapidly expand market reach, while retaining independent brand tonality and user operation system. From manufacturing to channel, the industrial symbiosis model significantly lowers overseas localized capital expenditure and investment payback cycle, promoting efficient synergy of capacity, channel, and service, building a sustainable overseas profit foundation.

Technical assets go global simultaneously, constituting the underlying support of system competitiveness. i-HEV Intelligent Hybrid engine thermal efficiency reaches 48.41%, 100km combined fuel consumption as low as 2.22L, setting Guinness World Records; Thunder 16-in-1 Intelligent Electric Drive comprehensive efficiency is 93.8%, reaching the industry mass production top level in the same class. In March 2026, Geely Qianli Haohan G-ASD system obtained UN R171 certification, becoming the first Chinese car company to obtain this certification, obtaining the entry pass for high-level intelligent driving landing in the European market. Geely is outputting not only complete vehicle products to Europe, but full-stack technical assets including Three-Electric Systems, Hybrid, Intelligent Driving, and Intelligent Chassis, achieving the globalization monetization of technical capabilities.

Twenty Years of Deep Cultivation Accumulation: From Product Export Towards Globalization Secondary Strategic Layout

The domestic automotive market has deep involution, price wars are rising and falling, and internationalization has become a pass that Chinese car companies must cross. But going overseas is not as simple as selling products overseas: If Chinese car companies rush headlong and fight separately, disorderly competition will easily copy domestic involution to overseas markets, relying on price cuts to exchange for sales, eventually solidifying the stereotype of 'cheap goods' in the minds of overseas consumers. This damages not only a single brand, but the overall image of Chinese cars and even 'Made in China'. How to break this predicament and take root firmly in mature markets crowded with strong brands, truly establishing an in-depth Chinese brand? Geely gave its own answer.

The complete system presented at the Paris Auto Show is not a one-off investment for short-term hype, but the result precipitation of Geely's continuous investment in the European market for over 20 years. Currently, based on previous accumulation, it is starting the globalization secondary strategic layout.

As early as the early stage of going overseas, Geely proactively laid out European localized R&D and design capabilities, jumping out of the traditional model of 'domestic R&D, selling cars overseas'. Currently the group has built a localized R&D and design matrix in Europe, owning three R&D centers and three design centers. In March 2026, Geely Technology Europe Company was established, integrating the Swedish Gothenburg and German Frankfurt two R&D teams. The core goal is to compress the time difference between China and overseas new car launch to within 6 months.

Gothenburg R&D and Styling Center serves Zeekr, Lynk & Co brands, Italy Design Center supports Geely brand global product development. Europe has upgraded from a simple sales market to the core source of Geely's global R&D network. Looking globally, Geely layouts 5 Design Centers, 5 Engineering R&D Centers, operates 11 overseas manufacturing factories in Malaysia, UK, Brazil, and other places. Business covers over 100 countries and regions, global sales service outlets exceed 2300, forming a cross-regional synergy global industrial foundation.

Technical compliance, safety standards, ESG sustainability capability pre-adaptation are important links in the secondary layout. Benchmarking Europe's strict safety regulations, Geely already has 10 car models winning Euro NCAP five-star safety ratings, covering multiple products from high-end luxury to home mainstream. Simultaneously, Geely became the first Chinese car company to access the European Road Safety Information System (DFRS), participating in the co-construction of the European road safety network with anonymous data sharing, deeply integrating into the local traffic governance system. In the ESG field highly concerned by capital markets, Geely is the only Chinese car company selected in S&P Global 'Sustainability Yearbook 2026'. In 2025, single vehicle full lifecycle carbon emissions decreased by 25.5% compared to 2020, continuously promoting the 2045 carbon neutrality target, obtaining European capital and regulatory level recognition with verifiable carbon reduction results.

If the past 20 years belonged to the globalization 'basic construction phase', the core task was building the underlying infrastructure of R&D, design, channel, industrial cooperation, then with this Paris Auto Show as a sign, Geely officially entered the globalization secondary layout 'value harvest phase'. Strategic focus shifted from simple complete vehicle export to localized R&D, localized manufacturing, localized sales, localized service full-chain deep operation; from single brand small scale trial to three brand system cooperation; from physical product export to systematic overseas output of technical assets, operation system, brand soft power. 2026 EU single-month sales broke 10,000, export target raised, a series of operating data, is the direct reflection of previous long-term layout gradually realizing commercial returns.

Jumping out of the Low-Price Involution Trap: Geely Explores the Path for Chinese Automotive Globalization Value Breakthrough

Entering the market of old European automotive powerhouses is a necessary trial for Chinese automotive industry globalization. Europe as the birthplace of modern automotive industry, bred Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other century-old giants. Consumers have mature cognition of automotive brand value and product quality in Europe. Market competition essence is a comprehensive battle of brand power, technical capability, long-term operation capability. In the past, many Chinese car companies went overseas relying on price-performance ratio to open short-term market, but low price volume sales model has natural limitations: it can only exchange for phased sales, easily solidifies the 'cheap substitute' label of Chinese cars in overseas markets. Once domestic price involution transfers outward, not only single enterprise profits bear pressure, but also collectively exhaust Chinese automotive industry brand reputation, forming suppression on the overseas valuation of the entire Chinese automotive sector.

This leads to a deeper proposition at the industry level: What exactly does the Chinese automotive industry output when going overseas? Simple complete vehicle export is just an extension of 'Made in China' commodity trade; only by realizing the simultaneous landing of brand value, technical system, and industrial ecology, can the true 'Chinese Brand' globalization be completed. Geely's practice provides a reference sample for industry value breakthrough.

Geely's demonstration significance lies in abandoning short-term traffic thinking, carrying out European market operations with long-termism: rooting with full-chain system, replacing single-point product breakthrough; avoiding overseas heavy asset investment risks with industrial symbiosis light-asset cooperation; importing frontier technology into European market in advance, supporting brand premium with product hard strength; relying on multi-brand matrix covering diverse consumer layers, avoiding falling into homogeneous price killing. On one hand, continuously importing the group's most advanced products, technology to Europe; on the other hand, leveraging local mature industrial resources in line with trends, jointly building capacity with Ford, landing Lynk & Co business relying on Volvo channels, linking European local R&D power to polish products, deeply embedding in the local automotive industry chain, transforming from foreign product supplier to European industry ecosystem co-builder. This model, while guarding its own brand premium, also maintains the collective brand assets of the Chinese automotive industry in the global market.

Of course, Geely's system overseas expansion is not the only answer, different car companies based on their own resource endowments will choose differentiated globalization paths. But this exploration points to the core direction of Chinese automotive industry globalization: Chinese car companies going global must complete the leap from exporting 'Made in China' commodities to exporting 'Chinese Brand' value. In the future, when overseas consumers choose Chinese cars, they will recognize not just price advantages, but comprehensive value brought by technology, safety, sustainability concepts, Chinese automotive industry can only obtain long-term pricing power and capital recognition in the global market. This is the deep value of Geely's system overseas expansion rooting in Europe, and also a long-term thinking question left for the entire Chinese automotive industry.

The textures of the physical world are the true moat of traditional automakers.

Don't let the rhythm be disrupted by internet companies and consumer electronics brands making cars.

The automotive industry is a marathon; there is no need to rush for success. Persist, and you will eventually encounter surprises.

September 24, 2026, Crane Pavilion in Yuncheng, Shanxi. An autumn rain arrived unexpectedly; the Yellow River took a bend beneath the tower and was swallowed by the night. Colored lights and shadows fell on the eaves and bracket sets of the ancient building. Raindrops slanted down within the light beams; the whole tower looked as if it had been re-outlined in gold.

More than 1,000 years ago, Wang Zhihuan left the eternal masterpiece 'If you desire to reach a thousand miles further, ascend one more flight of stairs' here.

The most strategic model of Geely Automobile (0175.HK) in the past decade—the all-new fourth-generation Binyue L—launched anew on this rainy night. The fuel series starts at a limited-time price of 92,900 yuan; the i-HEV Smart Engine hybrid series starts at 99,900 yuan...

This means Geely Automobile is equipping 100,000-yuan level fuel hybrid SUVs with advanced intelligent driving features typically found only in 200,000 to 300,000 yuan level new energy vehicles. And soon, Geely Automobile's first rugged box SUV—Warship 700—is also coming.

01

In the view of 'Automobile K-Line', the launch of the all-new fourth-generation Binyue L is truly worth savoring not for the model price and configuration, but that Geely Automobile once again moved the new car launch event to a landmark of Chinese cultural tourism.

From the 2017 Binyue 100℃ temperature difference challenge from Mohe to Sansha, the 2018 Geely and Shell Friendship Journey across the Eurasian continent, to the 2023 launch of the 'Cultural Tourism China Exploration Plan' with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to the Maritime and Silk Roads, from the Dunhuang Singing Sand Dunes to the Crane Pavilion by the Yellow River, Geely China Star's cultural tourism chess game has reached its fourth season.

So the most interesting part is, when the entire automotive industry was anxious about profit margins dropping below 1.5%, Geely was seriously doing 'off-job' work—playing at cultural tourism.

Having tracked Geely for 15 years, the author found that if this matter is only understood as a marketing tactic, its strategic significance is underestimated.

The cultural tourism assets held by Geely Automobile are actually already sufficient to support an independent cross-industry, cross-border super cultural tourism group. And the window period for this is opening up.

02

In the first half of 2026, the average profit margin of the domestic whole vehicle manufacturing link dropped to 1.5%, reaching a new low in nearly ten years. The overall profit margin of the automotive industry is 3.6%, while the average profit margin of downstream industrial enterprises is 6.5%.

The average gross profit margin of new cars is -21.4%—selling cars has degenerated from a profit source to a limited traffic entry point. The judgment of the China Association of Automobile Distributors is more direct: 2026 is the 'Year of Elimination' for the domestic car market!

Looking at Geely Automobile's semi-annual financial report against this background, the data is quite decent: Total sales of 1.42 million vehicles hit a new high for the same period, revenue of 173.6 billion yuan increased by 15% year-on-year, core net profit attributable to parent company shareholders of 9.68 billion yuan increased by 46% year-on-year, gross profit margin improved to 17.9%, core net profit attributable to parent company per vehicle increased by 45% year-on-year to 6,806 yuan, achieving positive growth for six consecutive years.

However, even an excellent company like Geely Automobile must face a structural problem—the incremental space for the Chinese automobile market is narrowing; in 2026, the sales volume of domestic passenger cars is likely to see two-digit negative growth, and the automotive industry has fully entered stock competition.

Although Geely's overseas market growth is strong, overseas sales in the first half exceeded 474,000 units, a massive 158% increase year-on-year, already exceeding the full-year export total of 2025, with the annual target raised to 920,000 units (challenging 1 million), but the EU's anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese pure electric vehicles have a highest combined tax rate of 45.3%, and the shadow of trade barriers always exists.

Therefore, 'Automobile K-Line' believes that Geely Automobile needs a second profit pool outside of automobiles, and what it holds points exactly to a track that Chinese listed automakers have collectively ignored (Drive Geely, Tour China, See the World).

03

In May 2026, seven departments including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the 'Notice on Promoting Industrial Culture, Protecting Industrial Heritage, and Developing Industrial Tourism', clarifying 8 key tasks including enriching industrial tourism product supply and improving industrial tourism service quality.

The notice specially proposed vigorously developing factory tours, encouraging manufacturing enterprises to innovate and launch projects such as observing production processes, simulation operations, and handmade experiences.

'Automobile K-Line' statistics found that domestic industrial tourism total revenue in 2025 was 120 billion yuan, up 10% year-on-year.

Research institutions predict that China's industrial tourism annual growth rate reaches 18%, and the market may break through 300 billion yuan in 2029. Global industrial tourism output value accounts for about 10%~15% of total tourism output value, while China's current market share is less than 5%.

Taking the Tsingtao Beer Museum as an example, this museum built with an investment of over 28 million yuan in 2003 has cumulatively received over 15 million visitors and cumulative revenue of at least 700 million yuan. In just the last year, it received 2.5 million visitors, with over 250,000 foreign tourists, an increase of about 70% year-on-year. It proves that industrial tourism can completely detach from ticket dependency and turn experience into consumption.

Information shows that Xiaomi Automobile Factory opened in March 2024, received over 250,000 visitors since then; free spots drawn by lottery, winning rate once only 0.4%, scalpers even mark up prices to thousands of yuan but demand still exceeds supply; Nio Hefei Factory has already received hundreds of thousands of visitors; Tesla launched a points-for-factory-tour plan in the US and Europe...

For Geely Group which has a vast industrial layout domestically and internationally, each base can become a seeder, a propaganda team, or become a key piece in its grand cultural tourism chess game, making 'Happy Life, Geely Companion' more concrete.

04

'Automobile K-Line' believes that industrial tourism in China's automotive industry is currently in a stage with heat but no system, not to mention any cross-border integration.

Because in the past everyone lived too well, lying down and making money was enough just by selling cars, now times have changed drastically...

Therefore, whoever can first upgrade scattered factory visit explorations into operable cultural tourism products, holds the entry ticket to this multi-billion market.

For most listed domestic automakers doing cultural tourism, it starts from zero, but for Geely Automobile it is different; its cultural tourism assets are already scattered across various sectors of the group in fragmented form, lacking only integration.

For example, Mingtai, under Geely Holdings focusing on track new business, event operations and business travel development, operates the Ningbo and Wuhan international tracks, also invests, constructs and operates the Chengdu Tianfu International Track and US UMC Track, possessing exclusive operation rights for key event IPs such as F4 Formula China Championship.

However, for a long time, Geely Automobile Group's business travel development capabilities and track operation experience were never systematically used to operate cultural tourism products aimed at million-level car owners; it is a sleeping asset.

Good news is, according to 'Automobile K-Line', currently Geely Automobile Group has established a Car Sports Experience Center, subordinated to the newly established Group Sales Company, coordinating all brand car sports culture events of Geely Group, on par with China Star, Galaxy, Lynk & Co and Zeekr sales companies; it seems Geely Automobile Group finally realizes its importance.

05

What makes 'Automobile K-Line' even more agreeable is that CaoCao Mobility acquired high-end mobility brand YaoMobility for 225 million yuan last year, and acquired Geely Business Travel for 65 million yuan, while Geely Business Travel operates a one-stop travel platform, integrating comprehensive travel products and services from airlines, accommodation and traffic service suppliers.

Of course, this background is the implementation of the 'Taizhou Declaration' consolidation focus strategy, yet inadvertently made Geely have a clearer cultural tourism business ecosystem loop.

If CaoCao Mobility can upgrade ride-hailing and car rentals from transportation tools to product experiences—using models from Geely's bases for experiential leasing, users rent not just a car, but the i-HEV of Binyue L, the Thunder God electric hybrid of Galaxy, Lynk & Co 07GT, Zeekr 9X's luxury experience—the commercial loop of this matter would be completely different.

The author opened a map and found that Geely's manufacturing bases and industries domestically cover Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Hunan, Hubei, Shanxi, Hebei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Shandong, Liaoning, Gansu, Jiangxi, Heilongjiang, Hainan, Shanghai, and more than ten provinces and municipalities; its industrial cultural tourism potential is not to be underestimated.

In fact, Geely Baoji Base obtained the title of 'Baoji City Industrial Tourism Demonstration Base' as early as 2021. Geely Automobile's welding workshop can witness the magical process of full-line robotic precision welding; this industrial tourism route has become a popular choice for local primary, secondary and university students' study tours.

Therefore, Geely needs to systematically develop potential from the brand and marketing levels. For example, currently all brands under Geely include cultural tourism products into the design of retail systems while building new outlets, so marginal costs are almost zero.

06

'Automobile K-Line' believes that, given Geely Automobile's strong overseas expansion momentum and the national opening strategy, Geely's cultural tourism ambition should not stop domestically; its overseas manufacturing base layout coincidentally covers the most geographically promising space for Chinese cultural tourism going global.

Currently, Geely Automobile Group has 12 local factories in countries like the UK, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Brazil, etc.; overseas capacity exceeds 650,000 vehicles (will exceed 840,000 by year-end); overseas offline channels have broken 2,000, covering 114 overseas core markets.

Previously, overseas media and dealer delegations have walked into Geely Ningbo Safety Center to experience crash tests first-hand; Chinese media delegations have also visited Geely overseas R&D design centers and factory production lines.

I believe these routes can be fully open to car owners and cultural tourists. This summer, Zeekr has already led car owners to attempt visiting Geely's European related sectors in Northern Europe.

In September 2026, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism explicitly stated that the '15th Five-Year Plan' period will continue to promote cultural exports.

07

If Geely Automobile can combine China's automotive industry's intelligent manufacturing capabilities with the cultural tourism resources of the countries where overseas bases are located, what is done is not overseas marketing of Chinese brands, but a global cultural tourism product of Chinese Intelligent Manufacturing + Local Culture. This is something neither Tesla nor Nio has done.

Tesla doing factory visits is essentially fan benefits. Nio cooperating with cultural tourism, providing car owners with scenic spot tickets and hotel discounts, is essentially an extension of user rights.

If Geely does a cultural tourism group, the logic is completely different. Geely has manufacturing bases as experience nodes, tracks as event carriers, satellite mobility assurance, business travel platforms as transaction entry points, and a global factory industry network as transit stops for cross-border routes.

The density and complexity of this set of things will far exceed the existing layout of any listed automotive company globally.

Mentioning the differentiated barrier for Geely Automobile doing cultural tourism, it must be the long-distance assurance formed by satellites and full-energy paths.

Past few years, Geely Constellation has completed Phase 1 networking, 64 satellites in orbit, achieving global communication coverage except the poles; Doyu satellite-based high-precision positioning technology has also achieved scaled service, first time mounted on vehicles globally.

Rent a Geely car, go to a place without signal, no need to worry about being disconnected, no anxiety about recharging; this is something ordinary rental companies cannot do.

08

The value of cultural tourism to Geely does not lie in how much revenue it can contribute itself. Because even achieving the level of Tsingtao Beer Museum, annual comprehensive revenue of 200 million yuan, placed in Geely's over 300 billion yuan annual revenue box is insignificant.

But 'Automobile K-Line' believes that the true value of cultural tourism lies in changing the nature of the relationship between automaker brands and users.

The new car gross profit margin indicator of China's automotive industry has long revealed that selling cars itself is not profitable; the profit comes from the post-sales links: finance, insurance, maintenance, repair, trade-in, leasing, mobility services.

Whoever can continuously interact with users for ten years after users buy cars will survive in stock competition!

Imagine a car owner participating in a 'Geely Intelligent Manufacturing Tour', seeing their car's production line at bases in Ningbo or Xiangtan, hearing a story about the Yellow River and Binyue in front of Crane Pavilion, sending a Moments post via satellite communication in the Hexi Corridor and Northwest no-man's land... His perception of this brand will change from 'I bought a car with good value for money' to 'I belong to the lifestyle represented by this brand'.

These routes do not need to cover the whole country, just need to be extreme in specific geographical narratives. Every route is an independently operable cultural tourism product, with clear pricing, schedules and service standards.

CaoCao Mobility's Geely Business Travel platform is responsible for booking and business travel management, Geely's CRM and Mingtai operations team are responsible for event execution, Geely bases are responsible for coordinating resources for visit reception. Resources are ready, organizational methods need re-designing.

The commercial value of this emotional connection far exceeds the gross profit of a few maintenance and repairs.

'Automobile K-Line' makes an assumption, if spiritual stickiness can increase repurchase rate by 5 percentage points, or increase average car price by 2,000 yuan, then the profit increment brought to 0175.HK will be in the billions of yuan level, this is the true ROI (Return on Investment) of Geely doing a cultural tourism group.

09

The true meaning of long-termism in the automotive industry is not to outlast others on one track, but when others are only staring at one track, you have already laid out a plan for the next decade.

Geely Automobile's first-half cash reserves are 69.56 billion yuan, having enough money to test errors, enough technology to support experience, enough users to verify products.

Now, Geely Automobile lacks only a decision, that is, to upgrade cultural tourism from launch event supporting materials to a strategic business unit, and upgrade technology from car-selling talk to user experience.

Currently Geely possesses the world's only automaker simultaneously possessing intelligent cars, chips, embodied intelligent robots, AI large models, satellites, etc., a sky-earth integrated tech ecosystem. If this technology system is only used for selling cars, it wastes all its imagination in the physical world.

After all, Technology itself does not constitute a moat; only when technology is perceived by users, remembered, and actively spread, it constitutes a moat. And the cultural tourism group is Geely's 'translator' that was accidentally created long ago.

10

'Automobile K-Line' firmly believes that for 0175.HK, the significance of the cultural tourism strategy is far more than a marketing activity to add flowers on brocade. Currently, the capital market looks at Geely, looking at sales volume, per-vehicle profit, gross margin, export growth rate; these indicators are naturally important, but have a ceiling. If the cultural tourism strategy is accomplished, 0175.HK's valuation logic will undergo a fundamental change.

Geely Automobile's CEO Gui Shengyue once clearly pointed out that the current technical attributes of Geely have not been fully recognized by the capital market; once investors realize the changes in its technology attributes, valuation methods will undergo a fundamental change.

The cultural tourism strategy is the key catalyst to promote this change, and Binyue, which has product accumulation and cultural tourism experience accumulation, is also the most suitable starting point in Geely's cultural tourism narrative.

When Geely Automobile's revenue structure changes from one-time car selling to continuous services, user relationships change from transaction relationships to membership relationships, when technical assets change from cost centers to revenue sources, when globalization changes from export sales volume to two-way flows, the capital market will give this listed company a brand new evaluation.

Therefore, the author believes that the key issue now is, from the group perspective, a powerful figure is needed to drive all resource integration, having an independent entity. This person's level must be high enough, possess a continuous entrepreneurship mindset, understand cars and users, and must have an international vision, reporting directly to Li Shufu or An Conghui.

This new entity may not be subordinated to Geely Automobile listed company, nor subordinated to CaoCao Mobility, but be on the same level as them.

For example, obtain vehicle resources from Geely Automobile, obtain traffic and business travel platforms from CaoCao Mobility, obtain track and event operation capabilities from Mingtai and other entities, obtain satellite and AI technology support from Geely Technology, obtain visit reception resources from each manufacturing base.

Even Geely can conduct deep strategic cooperation with domestic and international leading travel, cruise, leasing and other fields companies...

Views of AutosKline：

The Crane Pavilion in the rainy night tastes better than on a sunny day. Wang Zhihuan wrote in the past 'If you desire to reach a thousand miles further, ascend one more flight of stairs', not writing about physical height, but spiritual vision. Selling cars is just for users to stand on the first floor; cultural tourism and spiritual communities are the floor where users are willing to continue walking up. Some heights, precisely, can only be seen clearly in wind and rain. Therefore, Geely Automobile, hurry up and open a cultural tourism group, stop wasting potential! Warship 700 is a good opportunity.

Content is original from [Automobile K-Line], reference materials sourced from listed company announcements and industry public information (relevant companies and institutions should have the obligation to be truthful); some images are from the internet, copyright belongs to original owners.

Articles from this account, without authorization, cannot be reprinted, infringers will be pursued. At the same time, article content does not constitute investment advice for anyone! Stock market risk is high, investment requires caution!

September 14-20, the biennial global top commercial vehicle event – Hannover International Transport Show (IAA Transportation 2026) will be held at the Hannover Exhibition Center in Germany. Geely Farizon New Energy Commercial Vehicles will land at the Hannover Auto Show for the first time, showcasing three flagship products: Farizon Star Han H, Super VAN, and Farizon Star V7E at Booth P55.

Deepening Global Layout

Accelerating European Localization Capabilities

As the first new energy commercial vehicle brand globally to achieve sales of 600,000 units, Geely Farizon's global expansion journey has upgraded from "product export" to "ecosystem rooting". Behind this process lies the collaborative advantage of "One Geely" - Farizon shares Geely's global technical accumulation and over 20 years of European localization operational resources, successfully importing mature new energy and intelligent technologies from passenger cars into the commercial vehicle sector, bringing "passenger car-level" intelligent driving experience and reliable quality to the European market.

As of now, Geely Farizon's business covers 70 countries, building more than 150 sales outlets and over 200 overseas service centers. In the first half of 2026, Geely Farizon's overseas cumulative exports ranked first in the industry, a year-on-year increase of 123%, topping the export list in 28 countries and regions including the UK, Australia, and the UAE. In August, international shipment volume continued to grow, surging 99.1% year-on-year, with overseas market potential exploding.

In Europe, Geely Farizon's strategic layout is particularly solid. Following the operational launch of the European headquarters Farizon Mobility Europe B.V., and the subsequent landing of German and French subsidiaries, this year has officially landed in the two core markets of Germany and France, with the globalization layout moving from broad coverage to deep rooting. Meanwhile, the German Gaggenau Europe spare parts warehouse has been put into operation, linking with the Ningbo International Spare Parts Distribution Center to build a "Domestic‑Europe" dual warehouse system, significantly shortening the European spare parts delivery cycle. The Indonesia KD plant achieved full vehicle production, the first overseas assembly plant has entered scaled operation, achieving the upgrade from full vehicle export to local manufacturing.

"We are not just here to sell vehicles, but to bring a complete European operational system to serve customers." This full ecosystem solution covers the user's entire lifecycle from purchasing, usage, maintenance, to replacement, truly responding to the deep needs of European logistics companies for a "reliable partner".

 

Three Products Debut

Dialogue with the World Through International Certification Strength

All models participating in this exhibition are positively developed based on the pure electric digital intelligence architecture, following UNECE regulations, obtaining EU market access certification, covering mainstream commercial scenarios such as trunk logistics and urban distribution.

Farizon Star Han H: As the technical foundation of Geely Farizon, the European version pure electric heavy truck is equipped with a 600kWh battery, range over 500 km, B10 design life 1.5 million km, meeting Europe's strict operational standards.

Super VAN: Max space 13m³, can accommodate 5 Euro standard pallets; Won the runner-up of IVOTY2026 International Van of the Year Award and What Van 2026 Annual Zero-Emission Van Award, safety rated 5 stars by EuroNCAP.

Farizon Star V7E: Loading space 6.95m³, range 328 km, payload 1373kg, standard equipped with over 14 ADAS features; Shortlisted for the top 3 in IVOTY2027 finals, final results will be revealed on the night of September 14.

Ten years of persisting in long-termism and positive development, Geely Farizon has completed the role upgrade from domestic leader to deeply integrating into the global industrial chain. At this Hannover Auto Show, Geely Farizon will uphold the brand's original intention of "Creating Smart Interconnection, Leading Green Commercialization", practice the development concept of "Born Global", build a green logistics ecosystem with global partners, and head towards a sustainable future.

Recently, Geely Automobile officially released its August sales data. The data shows that Geely's total monthly sales in August reached 270,194 units, achieving year-on-year and month-on-month growth for six consecutive months, with the new energy vehicle sales share soaring to 65%. More worthy of industry attention is the overseas market, where export volume reached 110,094 units, standing firm at the 100,000-unit threshold for three consecutive months, with overseas new energy vehicle exports surging 446% year-on-year.

In my opinion, given the current context of intensifying involution in the car market and resurgent price wars, such results are not merely a simple rise in sales volume, but the outcome of simultaneous efforts in technology, products, and globalization.

Many people looking at car company financial reports focus on total sales first, but what stood out most for Geely in August was the structure. Among the 270,000 total sales, new energy vehicle sales including Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr reached 175,877 units. For every 10 cars sold, more than 6 were new energy models. This proportion indicates that Geely has broken away from the old model where fuel cars support the basic base and new energy vehicles make up the numbers, and new energy vehicles truly became the core engine driving overall market growth.

Looking at the breakdown of the three major brands, each has found its own position without one point exploding in popularity while other sectors drag behind.

Zeekr, positioned as a global luxury technology brand, delivered 36,981 units in August, doubling year-on-year. Zeekr 7X continued to break 10,000 monthly sales, with global orders surpassing 200,000; Shooting brake models exceeded 10,000 sales for three consecutive months, with Zeekr 9X, Zeekr 8X, and Zeekr 009 taking the top spot in sales and reputation in their respective high-price segments respectively. It can be seen that Zeekr has firmly established itself in the 300,000-500,000 yuan or even higher luxury market, no longer relying solely on a single blockbuster model, but forming a multi-model matrix, completely opening up the high-end market.

Lynk & Co is following the route of expanding breadth. In August, overall sales reached 17,027 units, with a very high proportion of new energy vehicles. The new Lynk & Co 20 debuted at the Chengdu Auto Show, balancing urban trends and sport versions. At the same time, Lynk & Co also participated in the CRC Rally Championship, winning the category championship. On one hand, catering to the home consumer market, on the other hand, using motorsport to hone hybrid technology, this approach continues to reinforce Lynk & Co's sporty and high-end label.

Regarding the Geely brand which bears the sales basic block, August sales reached 216,186 units. Among them, Geely Galaxy made a huge contribution, selling 119,115 units in a single month. Geely Star Wish has broken monthly sales of 50,000 for three consecutive months, accumulating close to 900,000 units, equivalent to a delivery speed of more than 1,000 units per day, becoming a national-level new energy blockbuster. Galaxy E5 maintained stable output, Galaxy TT started pre-sales, Galaxy Battleship 700 debuted at the Chengdu Auto Show, with new cars constantly taking over the relay, ensuring continuous fresh blood in the mainstream new energy market.

The fuel sector is also not lying flat. The China Star series continued to exert effort. The fourth-generation Boyue L i-HEV and the brand new Xingyue L PLUS appeared in succession, completing product upgrades relying on fuel-hybrid technology and high-level intelligent driving. Current Geely fuel cars are not passively waiting to be replaced by new energy, but are renovating through HEV hybrid technology, holding onto the basic block of fuel users, achieving multiple legs walking for fuel, hybrid, and pure electric.

In fact, Geely's sales explosion naturally relies on continuous technology output. Taking August as an example, Geely released a full set of AI new energy off-road technologies, including the GTA native new energy off-road architecture, Thunder EM-T electric hybrid, and AI all-terrain digital chassis. This technology suite will be equipped on the Galaxy Battleship 700 first.

In the past, hard-core off-road was basically dominated by traditional fuel ladder frame cars. Now Geely tries to use AI + new energy to rewrite off-road track rules again. At the same time, full-domain AI has run through the entire process from R&D, manufacturing to after-sales, no longer just a voice assistant on the car infotainment screen, but infiltrating the underlying logic of whole vehicle development. This is also an important reason why Geely product iteration speed is getting faster and faster.

If the domestic market reflects Geely's product power, then the overseas market represents another pole of its future growth. August exports reached 110,094 units, increasing both year-on-year and month-on-month for 8 consecutive months. Among exports, 64% are new energy models. You should know that just a short while ago, domestic car company exports were mainly cost-performance fuel cars. Now, most cars sold by Geely overseas are new energy products.

And its market layout also blooms everywhere: Zeekr wins the luxury pure electric sales champion in Australia and Malaysia; Lynk & Co stands firm in the high-end new energy market in Tunisia and Egypt; Geely Star Wish wins the electric vehicle sales champion in Thailand. Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Middle East, one by one markets are broken through one by one. New markets such as Austria, Argentina, Jordan, Vietnam are continuously opening channels. Based on the market's improvement, Geely directly raised its full-year overseas target, from 640,000 to 920,000, sprinting hard for 1 million exports.

Final Thoughts:

Looking at the current domestic car market, many car company growth relies either on domestic involution lowering prices to exchange for sales, or going overseas with low prices to move volume. Geely is relatively special. Domestic high-end, home-use, fuel, new energy bloom at multiple points; overseas high-end models can also gain good market share, achieving simultaneous increase in volume, price, and profit. Mid-term performance total revenue 173.6 billion yuan, net profit attributable to parent company 9.68 billion, achieving simultaneous rise in volume, price, and profit.

Therefore, looking at this, Geely's 270,000 units sales in August is not a temporary accidental surge, but a comprehensive result of full-domain AI technology landing, multi-brand matrix formation, and globalization layout entering the harvest period. Domestic involution will continue, overseas competition will also become increasingly fierce. Geely's model of stabilizing the basic block domestically and opening a second growth curve overseas also provides a worthwhile reference sample for Chinese car companies.

(This article is originally produced by the New Media Editorial Department of [Car World], relevant content only combines network public information to carry out personal objective analysis. All vehicle model configurations, prices, range data, and sales volumes are subject to brand official announcements in the end; views in the text represent personal reference only and do not constitute any advice.)

On August 1, Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (0175.HK) announced the latest sales data: July sales reached 250,161 vehicles, showing month-on-month and year-on-year double growth for 5 consecutive months, with a 5% increase year-on-year and a 4% increase month-on-month. Among them, overseas exports reached 106,663 vehicles, a 202% increase year-on-year and a 4% increase month-on-month, achieving month-on-month and year-on-year double growth for 7 consecutive months, and exports exceeding 100,000 vehicles for two consecutive months. In the first half of the year, Geely Automobile's overseas sales cumulatively reached 470,000 vehicles. Behind this impressive performance is the result of Geely Automobile relying on a global product matrix and industrial layout, accelerating the promotion of high-value overseas expansion, gradually improving local channels and production systems, and accelerating the implementation of the globalization strategy.

Double Breakthrough in Sales and Structure, Moving Towards High-Value Overseas Expansion

From a data perspective, Geely's overseas growth is substantial. In July, new energy vehicle exports reached 62,604 units, surging 616% year-on-year, accounting for 59% of total exports, achieving simultaneous upgrades in export scale and product structure.

Meanwhile, multiple brands are blooming in multiple locations in the global market. In June, Geely Star Wish (Geely EX2) ranked first in Thailand EV sales, second in Brazil EV sales, and second in Mexico all-category pure electric sales; Starship 7 EM-i (Geely EX5 EM-i) secured first place in Poland's C-segment PHEV market single model sales and second place in Mexico's June PHEV sub-market sales.

Since its launch, Lynk & Co 08 has achieved nearly 190,000 cumulative global deliveries, ranking in the top three for Mexico's high-end PHEV SUV and Morocco's mid-size PHEV SUV sales in the first half of the year. Zeekr has anchored its global luxury technology brand positioning, with its influence continuously advancing, securing the top spot for Australia and Malaysia's luxury pure electric brand sales in the first half of the year. From the mainstream mass market to the luxury technology track, Geely Automobile's product matrix has taken root globally.

Systematic Collaboration Construction Establishes New Paradigm for Overseas Expansion

The continuous improvement of overseas exports is rooted in Geely's globalization strategy coordination, as well as long-term technical accumulation and systematic innovation capabilities.

Relying on the "One Geely" strategy, Geely has built a brand matrix with clear positioning and distinct personality, forming a development pattern of collaborative combat and potential complementarity among Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr. Among them, the Geely brand is positioned as a global mainstream automobile brand, focusing on safety, quality, and intelligence; the Lynk & Co brand is positioned as a global new energy high-end brand, focusing on fashion, sports, and personality; the Zeekr brand is positioned as a global luxury technology brand, focusing on luxury, extreme, and technology.

Geely has always regarded technological innovation as the core driving force for globalization development, building a globalization technology system of "Five Design Centers, Five Engineering R&D Centers, Five Testing Areas, Five Energy Technology Forms, and Five AI Smart Ecosystems" around global R&D, global synergy, and global innovation, providing solid support for globalization development.

In the past decade, Geely's cumulative R&D investment has exceeded 250 billion yuan. In the fuel vehicle field, Geely has created globally leading BMA and CMA vehicle architectures and independently developed the Thunder God power system; in the new energy field, it has created new energy exclusive architectures such as SEA and GEA, successively launched core technologies such as the Thunder God AI Electric Mix 2.0 system, Divine Shield Gold Brick Battery, and "11-in-1" electric drive, continuously improving product competitiveness.

In addition, Geely continues to promote the construction of local operational capabilities, further opening up overseas market growth space through win-win cooperation with localization enterprises. In July, Geely Automobile reached an agreement with Ford Motor Company, and both parties will establish a joint venture company at Ford's Valencia plant in Spain, creating new energy vehicle products for the Geely and Ford brands for the European market through capacity sharing, accelerating the implementation of Geely's European localization strategy.

Under the top-level coordination of the "One Geely" strategy, with five globalization technology systems as the growth base, multi-brand differentiated matrices as market touchpoints, and local operations as the grip, continuously strengthening service and channel systems, Geely has walked a new path of driving high-quality growth with systematic capabilities.

Looking to the future, we will continue to adhere to open collaboration, persist in continuous product technology innovation, adhere to user supremacy, and insist on compliant operation, creating higher value for global users, and contributing greater strength to promoting the high-quality "going global" of China's automotive industry.

In the Brazilian car market, BYD leaving everyone else in the dust is a well-worn topic, but what truly deserves close examination is Geely's skyrocketing speed.

July just delivered a sales report of 7,458 units, stubbornly competing with Chery until there was only a 105-unit gap, maximally heightening the suspense of who is the third Chinese brand; the single EX2 model sold nearly 4,000 units, firmly ranking in the top 10 for EV sales in Brazil, with the full month brand sales likely to stay steadily above 7,000 units.

It is worth noting that Geely's official announcement of entering Brazil was just one year ago. In one year, going from zero to selling over 7,000 units a month and breaking into the top 11 of the brand rankings, this speed counts as first-tier level across the entire history of Chinese automakers going global.

Many people only focus on that exaggerated 26,535.7% year-on-year growth, joke about it being a "low base number game", and move on from this. But few dig deep into why it was precisely Geely that was able to solidify sales in such a short time? The answer, bluntly put, is not complex – this "asset-light joint venture global expansion" strategy of theirs is too mature and too practical.

Don't be deceived by the percentage, over 7,000 units is a solid foothold

The 26,535.7% year-on-year growth rate is essentially because in July 2025, Geely had not officially started sales, there were only dozens of exhibition cars and test drive cars registered that month, the denominator was extremely small, so the calculated percentage naturally exploded. But setting aside this statistical number, looking at absolute sales: July 7,458 units, exceeding old-brand joint venture players like Jeep and Nissan, and only 105 units away from Chery which has cultivated the Brazilian market for years, this is no longer a number game.

As of early August 2026, Geely has just completed one year in Brazil, cumulative sales have already broken through 25,000 units. For a brand new brand, this achievement is highly valuable. It is worth knowing that for many Chinese brands entering emerging markets, stable monthly sales of 3,000 units in the first two years is considered passing. Geely directly touched the threshold of 7,000 units in just one year, and is still climbing upwards.

The core supporting this sales volume is the EX2 car, which is the Xingyuan in China. Compact pure electric, rear-drive layout, sufficient range and space, plus precise pricing, just hit the market gap for entry-level EVs in Brazil. But product strength is just the foundation, what truly allowed it to quickly stock and deliver was the path Geely chose that was completely different from BYD and Great Wall.

Core Password: Don't forcefully invest in heavy assets, enter directly by borrowing Renault's express lane

BYD bought Ford's old factory to renovate it themselves, Great Wall took over Mercedes' old factory and then expanded capacity, both walking the heavy asset route of "building factories themselves, building channels themselves" – the benefit is having full control, the downside is high costs and long cycles, volume doesn't start without three to five years.

Geely chose the completely opposite path: in 2025 established a joint venture with Renault, acquired 26.4% of shares of Renault Brazil, directly letting Renault serve as their General Distributor in Brazil.

How ruthless is this move? It is equivalent to directly grabbing all of Renault's assets accumulated over decades of operation in Brazil:

Ready-made distribution system: Renault Brazil originally had 263 dealership outlets, covering major cities nationwide, familiar with local dealer rules and consumer habits. Geely didn't need to recruit from scratch, directly relied on this system to expand authorized stores, opening 43 standard 4S stores and 13 mall experience points in one year, covering 24 states and over 50 cities. If another brand did it themselves, this coverage would take at least 3 years.

Ready-made after-sales and parts system: Brazil has vast territory, parts warehousing and after-sales repair are the fatal weaknesses of new brands. Renault has mature nationwide parts warehouses and after-sales standards, Geely directly accessed them, consumers buying cars don't worry about not being able to repair or waiting for parts for half a year, naturally adding a layer of trust.

Ready-made factory capacity: No need to buy land and build factories, directly started production of EX2 at Renault's Ayrton Senna Industrial Park, achieved local mass production in June 2026, just avoided Brazil's gradually rising import tariffs, costs directly dropped a notch, supply volume no longer restricted by sea transport.

Put simply, others going global is "starting from scratch", Geely directly brought product technology, "moving in ready-furnished" to others' mature industrial systems. Less money spent, fewer pitfalls stepped into, volume growth speed naturally became faster.

This is not a last-minute rush, it is Geely's mature strategy played over nearly 10 years

Many people think this is the first time Geely is doing this, actually quite the opposite, this "equity investment in local automakers, outputting technology products, reusing partner channel capacity" model, Geely had already worked it out in Malaysia long ago.

In 2017, Geely acquired 49.9% shares of the Malaysian national brand Proton. At that time Proton had been losing money for consecutive years, annual sales dropped from a peak of over 200,000 units to 70,000 units, market share left only 15%, even Volkswagen and Peugeot were unwilling to take over. Geely didn't grab controlling equity, only took operation management rights, exported their car models, technology, management system into it, the first car was the Proton X70 built based on Boyue.

How was the result? Proton sales volume increased by 50% year-on-year in the second year, directly turned from loss to profit in 2019, by 2024 annual sales had rushed to 152,000 units, sitting second in the Malaysian market steadily for 6 consecutive years, market share close to 19%. Geely not only revitalized a local brand, but also by using Proton's identity, smoothly obtained the entry ticket to the entire ASEAN market, avoiding high regional trade barriers.

The Brazil model is essentially an upgraded version of the Proton model. The subsequent Korean Renault cooperation, Spanish Ford joint venture, all follow the same train of thought: do not pursue wholly-owned control, do not directly confront the local market, but find a partner with capacity, channels, and understanding of local rules, I provide technology and products, you provide sites and networks, we share the money together, make the market bigger together.

Why say this model is worth most Chinese automakers learning

Now talking about Chinese automakers going global, many people open with "build factories themselves, cultivate locally", as if without spending billions to build a factory, it's not considered truly going global. But the reality is, not all automakers have the volume and cash flow of BYD, capable of withstanding the pressure of investment without output in the first few years.

The value of Geely's asset-light model lies in that it offers another feasibility:

First, fast results, low trial and error costs. No need to wait two or three years for factory construction and channel expansion, cooperation landing can stock goods, if selling well add more, if selling poorly won't cause major damage.

Second, low local resistance, easier to land. Compared to the impression of "Chinese automakers coming to snatch the market", this "cooperating with local enterprises, revitalizing idle capacity, creating jobs" model, whether government or consumers, acceptance is much higher, and not easy to become a target of local industry associations.

Third, extremely high replicability. From Southeast Asia to South America, then to Europe, as long as a local partner with capacity and channels can be found, this model can be quickly reused, no need to explore from zero for every market.

Conclusion: Of course it doesn't mean the heavy asset model is bad. BYD and Great Wall's route, although can firmly hold the brand and profit in their own hands, but the initial investment is undoubtedly higher. For more Chinese brands wanting to go global and also quickly open the market, Geely's "taking advantage of the trend" strategy is clearly more pragmatic and more universal.

The Brazilian market is just a microcosm. In the next few years, Chinese automakers going global will shift from "swarming in" to "competing in refined operations", by that time, whoever can find a landing method more suitable for themselves will truly survive and thrive. And the asset-light joint venture idea Geely has verified over nearly 10 years and multiple markets is obviously an assignment worth serious reference.

He leaned back against the seat, not because he was tired, but to see the entire chessboard clearly. On August 17, Li Shufu resigned as Chairman of the Geely Auto Board of Directors, and An Conghui took over. With no performance explosion, no shareholder pressure, at a juncture of 173.6 billion in semi-annual revenue and a 46% surge in profit, this car-making visionary voluntarily handed over the steering wheel. Some said Geely was changing its regime, quite the opposite; Li Shufu used this exit to secure Geely's entry ticket for the next thirty years.

I. Founder Yields Place, Harder Than Starting a Business

Li Shufu is not a defeated general, but a monarch who voluntarily stepped down from the throne. In the past thirty years, every risky move Geely made bore Li Shufu's name—daring to make cars, daring to buy Volvo, daring to bet on new energy. But as the company grew to Geely's scale, with seven or eight brands globally and business spanning Europe, Asia, and South America, relying on one person to make decisions is like letting an aircraft carrier chase a speedboat. He saw through it: a founder's intuition is the company's ceiling and its limit. An Conghui is a professional manager grown from Geely itself, working from the grassroots to the core. Li Shufu's words "Professional talent is rare" were handing the baton to someone who had truly run on the track. This baton pass is not a shift in power, but a victory of organizational life over individual lifespan.

II. What's Missing is Not Technology, but the Explosive Power of Hit Products

The new chairman didn't read a welcome report upon taking office, but first admitted shortcomings: "Lack of hit products, lack of mid-tier strength." In the first half, Zeekr sold 178,000 units crazily, Xingyuan stormed the entry-level market list, but in the middle golden belt of 150,000 to 300,000, Geely was surrounded like an iron barrel by BYD, Li Auto, and AITO. Chassis, intelligent driving, batteries, Geely lacks none of these, but what is missing is the chemical reaction to turn technology into hit products. So "One Geely" is no longer a slogan—cutting overlapping models, R&D expenses decreased, procurement tightened into one rope, the goal is one: make every penny strike a sound-producing product. In the first half of electrification, it was about lone heroes; in the second half, it is about the speed of system punches.

III. The Next Chapter of Globalization, Relying on Leverage Instead of Building Factories

Sold 474,000 units overseas in the first half, more than doubled year-on-year, but Geely played smarter this time. Li Shufu made things clear: not building new factories everywhere, sharing capacity with Ford in Spain, borrowing Volvo's European foundation, landing in Malaysia relying on Proton, side by side with Renault in South America. Investments made over these years finally assembled into a global manufacturing network. The early routine of Chinese car companies going overseas was shipping and selling cars, what Geely wants to do is package technology, supply chain, and localization together, quietly taking root in other people's markets. At this time, the founder's personal will cannot cover time zones and national borders, must let the organization grow thousands of feet, to run for Geely on the Earth.

Li Shufu stepped back, Geely took a big step forward. After Steve Jobs, Apple was still making money, but products changing the world were fewer; what Geely wants to prove is not whether changing the person still allows making money, but whether the gene of daring to bet and venture will break without the strongman. On An Conghui's desk lay the semi-annual report, and also three new car model blueprints. The real exam has just begun—not testing who sits on that chair, but testing whether that chair can shine on its own. The founder's value has never been standing on the stage forever, but letting the stage be empty, and the show can still be more wonderful.