Geely EX5 Launching In Britain With Lotus-Fettled Handling
The steady influx of Chinese car brands to Europe continues, with the latest set to be Geely, one of the country’s biggest car brands of all. It’s launching here, rather predictably, with an all-electric crossover, the EX5.
This news would normally pass over our desks without so much as a raised eyebrow of interest from us, but there’s a bit more to it than that. See, while the EX5 will mark the debut of the Geely brand in Britain, the company already owns a couple of small European brands you might have heard of called ‘Volvo’ and ‘Lotus’.
It’s that latter company, with a background for making cars that handle rather decently, that’s getting involved with the UK debut of the EX5. Specifically, Lotus Engineering, the Norfolk company’s engineering consulting branch, is helping refine the chassis setup for the British market.
The car has apparently undergone a “comprehensive evaluation” on the road, on Lotus’ test track and on an engineering rig, all with a view to providing a car “in line with expectations” of UK buyers, according to Geely’s UK general manager, Mike Yang.
It’ll be far from the first time Lotus has lent its chassis expertise to a more everyday car. The Proton Satria GTi and Isuzu Piazza have both previously worn ‘Handling by Lotus’ badges, something we sincerely hope the company is rummaging around for in its archives to stick on the EX5 too.
As for the rest of the car, we don’t know a whole lot about it. The version sold globally gets a single electric motor powering the front wheels, producing 215bhp and 236lb ft of torque. It’ll hit 62mph in 6.9 seconds, top out at 109mph, and do 267 miles on a charge according to the WLTP test. It’ll go on sale in Britain in the fourth quarter of this year.
All fairly standard stuff for an EV crossover, then, but not many others can claim the involvement of some of the best chassis brains in the business. Will that make the EX5 drive like anything other than a generic family crossover? Time will tell.
The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.
Comments
No comments found.