Geely is set to have another crack at the Australian market in the form of its youth-oriented Lynk & Co brand.
In its ‘Smart Geely 2025 Strategy’ roadmap, Geely outlines its aim to bring the Lynk & Co brand Down Under by 2025.
“Lynk & Co will expand its global presence by entering Russia, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand among others,” said the company in its press release.
The Chinese brand was founded by its parent company, Geely, in 2016.
Lynk & Co 01
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, better known as Geely, currently counts brands such as Volvo, Polestar, Proton, Lotus, London EV Company, Smart, and Lynk & Co, among others, in its portfolio.
Lynk & Co revealed its first model, the Lynk & Co 01 small SUV, in late 2016. It went on sale in China in 2017.
The 01 uses the Volvo and Geely jointly-developed Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform that also underpins the Volvo XC40 and C40 SUVs, as well as the Polestar 2 liftback.
A facelifted model launched in 2021 and went on sale in European markets with a choice of two powertrains, a hybrid and plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and a choice of two paint colours, blue and black.
The company also debuted a subscription model in 2021 that allows European owners to own a 01 for as long or as little as they’d like with no hassles.
The membership costs €500 (A$782) per month and includes up to 1250km of driving in that month with the unused leftovers carrying over to the next month.
For every kilometre over the allotted 1250km per month, it costs an additional 15c (A 23c).
Lynk & Co claims the PHEV variant has an all-electric range of up to 69km on a full charge.
Both the hybrid and PHEV variants use a turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that’ll be familiar because it’s also used in the XC40 Recharge Plug-In Hybrid.
Lynk & Co also produce vehicles such as the small 02 and 03 hatchback and sedan, small 05 coupe crossover, 06 small crossover, and 09 large crossover.
Most models use the CMA architecture except the 06, which uses a Geely platform, and the 09, which shares its SPA platform with the current Volvo XC90.
In August 2021, the company revealed the 03+ Cyan Edition which is a high-performance version of the regular 03 sedan.
The 03+ borrows heavily from the Cyan Racing entry in the World Touring Car Racing (WTCR) series with a prominent rear wing, unique wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres, Akebono brakes, and adjustable Bilstein dampers.
Pictured: Lynk & Co 03+ Cyan Edition
It’s powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder producing 195kW of power and 380Nm of torque sent to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.
The company revealed the Lynk & Co Zero concept in September 2020 that previewed Geely’s all-electric Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA).
Geely says it’ll deploy the SEA platform across its portfolio and can accommodate everything from A-segment city cars to larger D- and E-segment vehicles.
It can also be configured with front-, rear- or all-wheel drive and one, two or three electric motors.
Lynk & Co Zero concept
SEA will support over-the-air updates and autonomous driving technology, and claims a maximum range of over 700km using the more lenient NEDC standard.
Geely is aiming to commercialise by 2025 its SAE Level 4 autonomous driving technology, with Level 5 in development.
In order to make this happen, Geely will be developing its own five- and seven-nanometre chips so it won’t have to rely on external suppliers.
Geely is aiming to sell 3.65 million units per year across its Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Geometry and Zeekr brands.
It’s also aiming to sell over 600,000 vehicles in overseas markets.
Something that’s already been detailed is Geely’s intention to have 5000 battery swapping stations across China by 2025.
Geely E-Energee
Known as E-Energee, the battery-swapping service revealed at the 2021 Wuzhen Internet Conference allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to swap their existing battery for a fresh one in 59 seconds.
Geely aims to reduce its total emissions by 25 per cent in 2025, as well as achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.
The company’s introduction of the Lynk & Co brand will be the first time Geely has sold cars under one of its Chinese brand names in Australia since a short-lived run of its namesake brand.
Sold from 2009 to 2014, the Geely brand offered only a single model, the small MK hatch and sedan, and only in Western Australia. The lack of electronic stability control prevented importer John Hughes from expanding its availability to other states.
