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Indirectly already present in South Africa via Volvo and Proton, the brand could potentially also bring some of its in-house marques to market, namely Zeekr and Riddara.
Volvo and Proton parent company Geely has announced its return to South Africa. Image: autoindustriya.com
Having exited South Africa more than a decade ago, Geely has announced its return before the end of the year after relaunching its operations in Australia and New Zealand this past week.
The parent company of Volvo and Proton, the latter having made its return three years ago after a decade-long hiatus as well, the surprise comeback ups the number of Chinese brands in South Africa to 13 after BYD, Dayun, Foton, Great Wall Motors (GWM) Haval, JAC, LDV, MG and Chery with its independent three sub-brands, Omoda & Jaecoo and Jetour.
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A move that also paves the way for the all-electric Zeekr and commercial Horizon brands to be offered, the confirmation for South Africa comes via company CEO Jerry Gan, who was quoted in a statement by Australian media as saying, “by the end of the year, Geely will enter UK, Brazil, South Africa and other markets”.
Based in the city of Hangzhou as the automotive division of the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, named after the province the city in question is located in, the exact timing of the brand’s return remains unknown despite Gan’s comments.
As first reported by cars.co.za, the same applies to the range of Geely-badged products, though the first could likely be the EX5 that forms part of the Galaxy range of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Sold since last year with right-hand-drive in Malaysia as the rebadged Proton eMas 7, the EX5 officially debuted Down Under last week powered by a 60.2-kWh battery pack driving a single front-mounted electric motor.
Producing 160kW/320Nm, the Australian EX5 has a claimed range of between 410 km and 430 km and charges from 30-80% in 20 minutes using a DC outlet up to 100 kW.
Aside from the Galaxy range, the brand, whose initial foray into South Africa included the small LC hatch, the Opel Astra-aping MK sedan, and later, the EC7 sedan under the Emgrand brand, sells a number of SUVs carrying the Boyue, Xingyue, Binyue and Haoyue monikers.
Incidentally, three are already sold in South Africa as Protons; the Haoyue as the flagship X90, the previous generation Boyue as the X70 and the pre-facelift Binyue as the X50.
Aside from Geely itself, the most likely other additions could be the Horizon brand currently producing the renamed Radar or Riddara RD6 electric bakkie.
As per the cars.co.za report, a trademark application for the Riddara name was submitted in October last year, paving way for its introduction as South Africa’s first all-electric lifestyle bakkie.
Unveiled back in 2022, the unibody RD6 rides on the Zeekr-developed Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform that also underpins the Volvo EX30, with motivation coming from a series of battery packs driving a single or pair of electric motors.
Another option is the Zeekr brand, which will soon debut in Australia as its first right-hand-drive market.
For the moment, little else is known, however, expect an officially statement by Geely to be announced in due course
Additional information from carexpert.com.au and abc4.com.
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