While other Chinese brands are outmuscling Geely for variety on the showroom floor, the brand says a rush of new models does not equal instant success.
Geely says it is content with its steady model rollout into the Australian market, and sees the more gradual introduction of models as a strength for long-term growth in our competitive market.
While rival Chinese brands have rolled out a much wider line-up of models and power sources – including utes – Geely currently fields only two cars, both mid-size SUVs, with the small EX2 electric hatch due soon.
Geely Australia CEO Alex Gu told media including Drive that a steady flow of vehicles – rather than dumping dozens of new models on dealers at once – brings greater stability to customers and dealers as they learn about the marque.
“We are fully committed and very patient for market penetration,” said Gu.
“Success is not only the volume booming, success is customer satisfaction, right? Localisation, and even partner satisfaction. So for Geely in the Australian market, you notice that Geely only launched two models today.”
Those two are the EX5 electric mid-size SUV, and the similarly-sized Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid, with the Geely EX2 electric five-door hatchback due to follow by the end of September, possibly priced at around $30,000.
Geely reported 2821 vehicles as sold in the first three months of 2026 in Australia – a lower figure than rival Chinese brands such as BYD (4705), Chery (4018) and GWM (5680) over the same period.
However, Geely is punching above its weight with those sales figures coming from only two models, compared to BYD's 10, Chery's five and GWM's eight – and it has only been in the market for just over a year.
Gu told media that while the Chinese car brand fields a narrower line-up than competitors, it was looking to “not bring the chaos”, and instead is working on developing its parts distribution and dealership networks.
The Geely executive said the brand is expanding its parts distribution operations in Sydney, along with improvements to its entire aftersales and servicing system to improve the speed of parts delivery to dealers.
Gu said the dealership network is growing “very rapidly”, from 48 last year to a forecast of more than 80 by the end of June 2026.
However, a relatively slow rollout shouldn’t be confused with a lack of ambition, the brand hoping to be a Top Five best-selling car brand globally by 2030, up from eighth today, with Gu telling media Australia needs to play its part in this goal.
Geely is due to expand its Australian line-up in the coming years, targeting the most popular segments in our country, such as utes and seven-seat SUVs.
Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell
