Zero hour: Lynk & Co launching in Australia!
An ambitious Chinese-Swedish car brand developing a cutting edge new electric vehicle range has been confirmed for Australia.
Geely-owned Lynk & Co is a sister brand to Volvo and EV specialist Polestar aimed at young buyers and is set to arrive down under by 2025.
The confirmation of Lynk & Co’s Australian arrival was contained in a Geely Auto Group document “Smart Geely 2025” outlining the company’s expansion strategy out to 2025.
The Geely brand itself could be lobbing locally as well with some electrified models, although the document said it was entering the “Asia-Pacific” region and did not mention Australia specifically.
Lynk & Co has a range of internal combustion SUVs and cars based on shared platforms with Volvo and is developing its first electric vehicle, the Zero, on a brand-new Geely Auto Group architecture dubbed SEA, or Sustainable Electric Architecture.
The Lynk & Co Zero is due on-sale late in 2021 in China. Geely says the Zero is intended to have a 700km range between recharges and an 800-volt battery pack that has no power degradation for the first 200,000km of its targeted two-million-kilometre lifespan. It is claimed to have a sub-four seconds 0-100km/h time.
Coinciding with its expansion into Australia and other markets, Lynk & Co will launch more than five new “smart models” by 2025.
Lynk & Co was established in China in 2016 and expanded to Europe in 2020. It sells its car direct online and via subscription. In Europe Volvo dealers look after servicing.
A spokesman for Volvo Car Australia said he was unaware of preparations for a local Lynk & Co launch.
Geely Auto Group not only owns Volvo, Lotus, the London Electric Vehicle Company and a big share of Daimler and Proton, it has also established Lynk & Co, Polestar – which is launching in Australia now – and Zeekr, which is another EV brand.
In China, apart from the Geely brand, the parent group owns Geometry and Maple, while a new powertrain division called ‘Leishen Power’ focussing on electrification has been announced as part of the 2025 strategy.
By 2025 the Geely Auto Group aims to sell 3.65 million units globally across Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Geometry and Zeekr, with electrification and sustainable mobility as central components of that growth.
“Geely sales goals are not limited to China – by 2025, the Group aims to achieve exceed 600,000 in overseas sales,” the document revealed.
“The Geely Auto brand will focus on developing the Eastern Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America markets as well as introducing new energy products to EU and Asia-Pacific markets.
“Lynk & Co will expand its global presence by entering Russia, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand among others.
“Geely will also continue its support for Proton with the goal of making the brand number one in Malaysia and top three in ASEAN markets with further introduction of new technologies and products.”
Lynk & Co will line up against plenty of EV opposition from China when it get here, with EV brands BYD on the way and Ora expected here in 2022.
Over the next five years, Geely Auto Group will launch more than 25 new “smart vehicles”, the document revealed. Apart from the five Lynk & Co models, there will be 10 electrified Geelys with Leishen hybrid powertrains and five Geometry EVs for the mainstream market.
Geely will also introduce a new battery swapping mobility brand and five new smart battery swapping pure electric models, starting in 2023. It also intends to develop a new generation electronic and electrical architecture dubbed GEEA3.0 that will deliver centralised cloud computing capabilities to cars.
Geely claims to have “fully mastered” module and battery pack technologies and is ramping up the mass production of batteries.
The Group has established joint ventures for battery production plants with CATL and other strategic partners. In terms of electric motors, Geely has developed 800V technologies including silicon carbide power modules, and high-efficiency oil-cooled motors. By 2023, Geely says it will begin mass-production of its silicon carbide power modules.
More competition can only benefit the transition to EVs but between Geely, BYD, GWM, FAW, Changan, Dongfeng and SAIC the Chinese certainly have their fingers in a heap of Western (and other Asian) pies. When badge ownership, share purchases, joint ventures, parts supply and buy outs are all considered I doubt if any of the worlds car manufacturers don’t have some involvement in China.
Whether battery swapping has a viable future for passenger cars will remain to be seen. EVs need to limit their weight and one way of reducing weight is a structural battery pack which isn’t compatible with an easily swappable battery.