Geely Holdings was founded in 1986 by entrepreneur Li Shufu, who still has the conglomerate under his private control. It first made refrigerator parts and motorcycles before expanding into automobiles in 1997. It now controls car makers including Volvo Cars, Polestar, Proton, Smart and Lotus.

In addition, it has a minority stake in Aston Martin and an engine-manufacturing joint venture with Renault. The group’s interests also include Geespace, a low-Earth orbit satellite network that’s a putative competition to Elon Musk’s Starlink that will help guide self-driving cars (it had 30 satellites in orbit as of October); Aerofugia, which recently demonstrated a pilot-less flying taxi; and a clutch of AI companies that feed technology into its vehicles.

Volume play

“It’s been a long-term project for the Giltrap Group to get Geely,” said Giltrap’s chief executive for retail Dane Fisher.

“Michael’s been working on it for five years and I’ve been working on it too the past year. We’re delighted it’s finally come to fruition.

“Having Geely Auto as a volume brand is key to our future strength and development – critical”.

Giltrap is launching Geely with two dealerships, one on Auckland’s Great North Rd that is part of a strip of marquee brands, the other at its site in Christchurch.

Fisher was aiming for six to eight dealerships by the end of the first year under a “sustainable growth” model, and a dozen after two years, with some additional service points.

Petrol cars too

EV sales dived in 2024 as the Clean Car Discount disappeared and road user charges were imposed for electric vehicles, and the whole industry suffered from the ongoing economic slowdown, high interest rates and what the Motor Industry Association called imbalances in the carbon-credit trading Clean Car Standard for importers.

But Fisher noted that fully electric vehicles made market share gains in February, when they accounted for 6.0% of new vehicle registrations, compared with 3.2% in the same month in 2024.

He saw a resurgence in EV sales this year, driven by brands like Geely getting close to price parity with ice (internal combustion engine) vehicles.

“$51,990 [for the EX5 Complete] shows you can have an electric vehicle with all the benefits at a price that’s similar to ice,” Fisher said.

More broadly, Fisher stresses this is not just about EVs. Giltrap will also bring in Geely’s plug-in hybrid and petrol cars, with the car-maker launching a new model roughly every six months. Nearly all would be SUVs.

Tesla suffered its first global decline in sales last year, and its vehicles have recently been the target of vandals worldwide, including six spray paint attacks in Auckland, after its chief executive Elon Musk’s rise as a Trump confidant.

“I won’t comment on our competitors,” Fisher said. “But what I will say is that a multi-powertrain approach is critical. If we put all our eggs in one basket with any type of power train, that’s where the risk is.”

BYD lowers pricing

The $51,990 EX5 Complete will be complemented by a step-up model, the $55,990 EX5 Inspire.

Geely NZ brand manager Jordan Haines said the EX5’s pricing “positions it as one of the most affordable midsize electric SUVs in the segment”.

Just hours after the EX5 price reveal in Sydney on Tuesday night, BYD circulated price cuts.

“You know you hit it right when the competition reacts the next morning. Car companies don’t like to be seen as reactive,” EVs & Beyond’s Richard Edwards told the Herald. Directly comparable BYD models – the Atto 3 Premium and the Atto 3 Essential – had received $2000 price cuts.

BYD New Zealand manager Warren Willmot shrugged off that suggestion, saying: “It’s business as usual for us. We’d like to see more Chinese brands enter the market. It’s us vs Toyota.”

The Atto 3 Premium had been reduced from $57,990 to $55,990, Willmot said, while the Atto 3 Essential was $49,990.

One motoring writer told the Herald he had never seen an Essential for sale in NZ.

“Essential was only for fleet [sales] last year. It’s now open to the public. We have Essentials arriving in June,” Willmot said.

Industry insiders view Geely’s EX5 as also competing with the Leapmotor C10 ($54,990) and Tesla’s new Model Y, which is priced from $83,000 (with Enhanced Autopilot an extra $5700 and Full Self-Driving Capability $11,400) and inventory stock of the previous Model Y, which is now selling at a $10,000 discount.

The mod cons

Range is 430km for the Complete and 410km for the Inspire, which is rated at 6.9 seconds for 0-100km/h.

Both models have a front-mounted electric motor that produces 160kW of output and 320Nm of torque, powered by a 60.22kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery pack operating as part of a 400-volt system.

A raft of mod cons include 360-degree cameras for parking and auto lane change (you hit the indicator then the car does the rest). The car will also take over with emergency lane-keep assist and evasive-manoeuvre assist if need be.

There are also voice commands for air conditioning, sat nav and other systems, wireless phone charging and Apple CarPlay (Android Auto is due to be added via an over-the-air-update by the end of 2025).

The flagship Complete’s extra features include 19-inch alloy wheels (instead of the Complete’s 18), a power tailgate, front parking sensors, glass sunroof, six massage modes and ventilation for the front seats, a power leg rest for the front passenger and a 16-speaker sound system – including tweeters in the front-row headrest (to which phone conversations can be diverted for less intrustive speaker calls).

Campsite-friendly V2L charging

Both models support bidirectional (two-way) vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) charging at a rate of 6kW – so you can give a stranded EV a top-up, allowing it to get to a charging station. (There are various standards for bidirectional charging: BYD, Hyundai, Kia, Ford and MG are among your Good Samaritan options in the V2V camp.)

There’s also support for vehicle-to-load (V2L) charging at 3.3kW. That is, providing power to AC appliances. So you could, say, use an EX5’s VTL to power a fridge and a cooker at a campsite, and recharge iPads and phones. Through sat-nav smarts, the vehicle makes sure you’ve got enough juice left to drive home.

Geely had been shaping up to showcase its new vehicle’s V2L capabilities by using two EX5s to power the Ferris wheel at Sydney’s Luna Park on Tuesday night, but rainy post-cyclone weather put paid to the plan.

Launch offer

Geely NZ has a launch offer the EX5 that includes a three-year service plan up to 60,000km and free metallic paint (normally a $950 option). Having begun yesterday, it runs until May 31, or while stocks last. The pricing is not time-limited.

The standard warranty package includes seven-year, unlimited-km cover, eight-year, unlimited-km battery, seven-year roadside assist and two years of connected car data.

Pre-orders are available now. The cars will be available for test drive at Giltrap Geely, 45 Great North Rd in Grey Lynn (that is, the former Lexus lot) and Giltrap Christchurch, 1/491 Waterloo Rd, Islington, from April 15.

Top-selling battery electric vehicles in NZ, February 2025

Source: Motor Industry Association

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.