One year on from hosting the UK launch of Chinese car brand Omoda, in October 2025 the plush Magazine venue in the shadow of London’s O2 saw the debut of another, somewhat different Chinese brand, Geely (pronounced Jee-lee).
While this latest arrival from the Far East may appear to be yet another badge trying to compete in a market already saturated by new Chinese brands, Geely claims to have been in the UK much longer than any of its rivals – almost 20 years in fact.
Back in 2006 the Chinese company acquired what is today known as the London Electric Vehicle Company, LEVC, makers of the ‘black cab’ taxi, a globally recognised signature of the capital. Geely has since acquired controlling stakes in other major automotive names, including upmarket Swedish brand Volvo and its performance spin-off Polestar, and British sports car manufacturer Lotus.
An enormous company globally, Geely has ambitious plans for its UK operation, expecting to be selling more than 100,000 cars annually within three years.
So who or what is Geely?
Geely Holdings, or to give its full name, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd (ZGH), was formed in 1986 and so is much older than many of the new Chinese brands in the UK. Unlike most of those, ZGH remains privately owned by its founder, entrepreneur Li Shufu.
The company started life making components for refrigerators – its first wheeled products, motorcycles, did not appear until 1994. Li Shufu wanted to prove China could build luxury cars and produced a prototype based on a Mercedes-Benz E-Class. But his first production model, launched in 1997, was a small hatchback based on a platform from Japanese brand Daihatsu.
While Geely became China’s first privately owned automotive group, a licence had to be obtained to make the car and so production didn’t begin until 2002.
The company adopted its Geely Automotive Holdings Ltd name in 2004, having just produced its first sports car, and when the Chinese government changed the way it managed the state automotive industry, leading to a general decline in both sales and quality, Geely responded by pouring big investment into research and development facilities, increasing the quality of its cars and establishing the reputation for leading technology it holds today.
The first Geely cars were exported in 2003, with the company exhibiting at the Frankfurt motor show in 2005. By 2012, Geely was China’s second-largest automotive exporter, beaten only by Chery. It was also undertaking a somewhat drawn-out acquisition of a UK company, Manganese Bronze Holdings, makers of the London black cab – Geely eventually restructured the company as LEVC.
Major restructuring followed in 2014 to arrest a period of sliding sales and outdated tech – Geely’s brands were all brought together and the cars that followed were more upmarket. Aiding this process was the market experience within Volvo – Geely had snapped up the Swedish maker when Ford put it up for sale in 2010.
A new brand called Lynk & Co was launched in Europe in 2016, and Geely then took a controlling stake in UK sports car manufacturer Lotus in 2017. The company also has 17% of Aston Martin while electric van maker Farizon, newly launched in the UK, is another Geely brand, as is premium badge Zeekr.
Today, Geely remains based in Hangzhou, in the Zhijang region of China. Its ten manufacturing plants are all in China but the group has a global reach, operating in more than 80 countries around the world and in 2024 producing more than 3.3 million vehicles.
When did Geely launch in the UK?
The Geely badge is very new to the UK market, only launched in late 2025 at a glitzy event in London. Its first 25 dealerships opening for business at the same time to sell the first European model, the EX5 electric SUV.
However the company claims to have been in the UK since 2006, when it acquired what is now LEVC.
What models does Geely have and what else is coming?
Geely’s launch model is a mid-sized electric SUV, the EX5. Targeting the Tesla Model Y, it’s available in three varieties all priced under £40,000. Geely hopes to be the first Chinese brand to qualify for the government’s electric car grant but for now is offering its own – along with a heavily subsidised home charger from Andersen.
The brand has big plans, claiming it will launch ten models onto the UK market within three years. What these will be is yet to be revealed, though we do know that they won’t all be EVs. They will, however, be ‘electrified’, with the first two additions expected to be plug-in hybrids.
Where can I try a Geely car?
Geely’s dealer network is currently small but growing quickly – 25 outlets were named at the launch event, and these are planned to grow to 50 by the end of 2025 and then double to 100 over the next year.
Virtually all the new Geely dealers are standalone, not as might be expected attached to existing Volvo or Polestar outlets – only Lipscomb at Maidstone also has a Volvo centre. And while the new network includes all the major cities, Geely is also targeting smaller towns where other more traditional manufacturers have moved out of – a network that stretches “from Dundee to Exeter” already includes such less obvious places as Oswestry and Goole.
What’s particularly significant about this company?
Geely is unusual amongst Chinese brands in remaining privately owned and free from the state control that at times has held back the Chinese motor industry. As such it has been free to grow to globally significant levels – it has been on the global Fortune 500 list for 13 years, and in 2022 was the only Chinese maker named in a list of the top 10 most valuable automotive brands around the world.
The group has become renowned for the level of its technology. Today it operates four research and development centres – two in China, one in Sweden, and since 2018, a UK centre in Coventry, the spiritual home of the British motor industry.
Where makes Geely different to the rest?
Geely arrives on the UK market in the wake of a host of Chinese brands and one might think it would struggle for recognition against already established rivals. However, the company claims to score over those rivals both in terms of its experience with established European brands such as Volvo and Polestar, and its technology.
Geely’s technology levels outshine many of its rivals – its lithium-ion phosphate ‘short blade’ battery packs are said to be even safer than those of rivals, passing six stringent tests including being cooked in a furnace, frozen and having not one but eight nails driven through it. The battery packs also form part of the structure of each car, adding to rigidity.
The group is even in the process of launching its own satellite network, which will prove pivotal to the connected technology of its cars. The first 41 of an initial phase of 72 satellites are already in orbit, the latest 11 launched in August 2025.
Summary
It’s easy to dismiss Geely as yet another Chinese brand but this is one company likely to go the distance. Its global reach, long experience of the European market through its ownership of the likes of Volvo and Polestar, and technology that is considered leading-edge even in the go-ahead Chinese market, suggests that this is a badge that is here to stay.
More in our series ‘Spotlight on China’:
