China’s Geely Automobile Holding Limited still targets annual sales growth of over 20% in 2022, in spite of such industry-wide challenges as automotive chip supply shortage, sporadic COVID-19 cases, raw material price increase, which are expected to go on plaguing the global automotive industry.

As the group said in its 2021 annual results report, it aims to sell 1.65 million vehicles this year, including 70,000 from ZEEKR brand. The total annual volume represents a jump of more than 24% from the sales volume in 2021.

In order to achieve this goal, Geely will improve its product portfolio and adhere to implement “Smart Geely 2025” strategy, which includes focusing on strategic products, accelerating the layout of NEVs, accelerating the development of intelligent applications and enhancing the ultimate user experience.

For 2022, the market will see a dozen new models from Geely Auto, including five Lei Shen super hybrid models, three Lei Shen PHEV models, one methanol hybrid model, one new luxury intelligent battery electric MPV from ZEEKR, two Geely-branded new SUVs, and one new pure electric SUV from Geometry.

Lei Shen super hybrid models

With eight Lei Shen hybrid models to be launched this year, Geely hopes to accelerate its pace in transformation. Last year, the group unveiled its global power technology brand Lei Shen Power and intelligent modular platform Lei Shen Hi·X, whose core technologies are claimed to outperform Japanese rivals. The system, the only hybrid system which can conduct FOTA update in the world, offers more than 20 intelligent driving modes with a thermal efficiency of up to 43.32%.

Xingyue L Hi·X; photo credit: Geely

The Xingyue L Lei Shen hybrid version, the first model equipped with Lei Shen three-speed hybrid electric drive transmission DHT Pro, received 2022 pre-orders within only nine minutes after launching. The vehicle’s delivery is due to commence at the end of this month.

In the next three years, there will be more than 20 models powered by Lei Shen hybrid system. The company targets to be sales champion in main hybrid segments and offers the best experience in terms of performance, intelligence and power. 

Methanol hybrid model

Geely will also launch one methanol hybrid model in 2022. The model will consume only 9.2L clean methanol per 100 kilometers with a consumption decrease of over 40%. In China, the price of methanol fuel is about RMB3/L, meaning the average price per 100 kilometers is as low as less than RMB28 ($4.4).

In the middle of this month, the brand brought the Methanol Hybrid Emgrand, which is said to be the world’s first methanol hybrid sedan, to test in sub -40°C Arctic conditions. The Methanol Hybrid sedan is based on the automaker’s fourth generation B-segment Modular Architecture Emgrand. Thanks to Geely’s Lei Shen Power and its new methanol powertrains, the new model will not have the issues with extreme cold environment performance, which is usually seen in previous methanol vehicles.

Methanol Hybrid Emgrand; photo credit: Geely

Methanol fuel will play an increasingly important role when global gas prices are rising and the whole world is trying to control fuel consumption and emissions, the group said. The Hangzhou-based automaker has put great weight on methanol vehicles, with a total investment of over 3 billion RMB in developing methanol vehicles and green methanol technologies over the past 17 years.

With great efforts in this segment, Geely Holding Group has become one of the largest developers and producers of methanol vehicles in the world. Geely brand has produced the Emgrand methanol sedan while Geely Commercial Vehicles has produced the Farizon M100 heavy truck, which have both passed “China VI” emissions standards.

ZEEKR MPV

ZEEKR will add a new sport version of the ZEEKR 001 and an all-new MPV model this year. The new MPV, whose delivery is due to commence in the fourth quarter of this year, has been well received, An Conghui, CEO of Zeekr Intelligent Technology, said at an earnings call last week. And the executive also stressed his confidence in their capability in achieving the annual sales target of 70,000 units this year.

The brand, launched in March last year, aims to unveil six new models in the next three years and has an annual sales target of 650,000 vehicles by 2025. Currently, the brand only has one model in the market, the ZEEKR 001, whose unit price averages RMB335,000. By the end of February, the 001’s cumulative sales reached 12,453 vehicles within four full months on the market.

ZEEKR 001; photo credit: ZEEKR

ZEEKR will expand its software talent team and add more investment in intelligent vehicle technologies. Currently, ZEEKR has more than 7,000 employees, 3,800 of which are R&D staff. And over 60% of ZEEKR’s R&D staff are software related.

The brand also plans to enlarge its sales and charging network. Its experience and delivery centers will be added by another 250 from 69 centers at the end of last year to improve user experience. Besides, the brand will have more than 600 charging stations of its own, with 500 newly added this year.

Geometry-branded battery electric vehicle

In battery electric vehicle, Geometry brand from the group will offer another new battery electric SUV model this year while the Geometry A and Geometry C will help to enhance the brand’s market presence.

Geometry C; photo credit: Geometry

Different from Geely brand, which makes continuous efforts in the battery electric segment, super hybrid segment as well as battery swapping segment, Geometry will focus on the main market in the pure electric vehicle segment.

Last year, the group sold a total of 55,320 Geometry-branded vehicles, representing a surge of 145.3% and accounting for 7.43% in the A-segment. For the year of 2022, the brand’s annual sales are expected to soar 190% to 160,000 units.

Battery swappable model

For the battery swapping market, the group has Livan, positioned as new-generation battery swapping mobility brand. The brand, established in January this year, will launch a new flagship battery-swappable vehicle model in 2022 for the private consumer market. The Maple 60S, a battery swappable sedan based on the Global Battery Rapid Change (GBRC) platform, had a total sales volume of 3,301 vehicles by the end of February.

Maple 60S; photo credit: Livan

The group is accelerating the building of its battery swapping ecosystem. According to its plan, it aims to have 5,000 highly efficient modular battery swapping stations by 2025, which can provide a battery swap within 60 seconds. The super-fast swapping station is designed to have a daily capacity of 1000 swaps. The group’s battery swapping network will cover 100 core cities and meet demands of up to 1 million vehicles.

All in all, in terms of product expansion, Geely will maximize the advantage of building vehicles on architectures and improve the efficiency of automaking. The models built on modular platforms will account for 70% of the group’s overall product portfolio. Besides, the group will launch over eight models equipped with GEEA2.0 and adopt new intelligent driving and cabin systems.

Geely will also maintain the ratio between R&D investment to revenues at around 5.5%. In the past five years, its R&D investment showed continuous annual growth with a combined sum up to RMB25.6 billion. In 2022, the group will expand the investment in new energy vehicle products.

What’s more, the group also targets rapid growth in export volume. According to the group, Geely brand will speed up its expansion in Europe, Australia and South America while Lynk & Co will go on focusing on developed countries and the Middle East markets. Geometry brand will make foray into European and Southeast Asian markets.