- China’s Geely has dropped camo’d images of its Defender lookalike.
- The SUV prototype will reportedly be offered in China and Europe.
- Tri-motor hybrid powertrain and 5 mph swim speed are expected.
Land Rover’s China sales were so bad the British company quit making its own vehicles there and is joining forces with Geely for some Freelander-sized SUVs. But at the same time, Geely is gearing up to unveil another boxy trail cruncher of its own that’s aimed directly at Land Rover’s Defender audience, and isn’t above borrowing some major design themes.
We first met the big SUV last year in the form of the Galaxy Cruiser concept that was displayed at the Shanghai Auto Show. Now Geely has teased some shots of lightly disguised prototype for the production vehicle that is schedule to go on sale in China before the end of the year, but is also reportedly coming to Europe soon after.
Related: Chinese Galaxy Battleship Floats Two Hours Straight While Pretending It’s A Defender
The images were captured near Arjeplog in Sweden, where automakers go to freeze their door handles off. Geely says it was testing climate systems, powertrain efficiency and grip in extreme cold, because if you’re going to make your SUV look like a Defender you need to make sure it can handle more than posing outside a designer handbag store in Shanghai.
Land Rover Lines
Visually, the production version sticks close to last year’s concept. The outline has strong Defender influences, complete with short overhangs, flared arches and a side-hinged tailgate with an external spare. The camo can’t hide the copycat flared rear hips, or the similarly rounded nose.
Three Motors, Massive Range
Geely hasn’t confirmed the under-skin specs, but the smart money says it’ll use a plug-in hybrid setup. Autocar previously reported that it will ride on the Geely SEA-R platform from the Zeekr 9X (and heading for the Lotus Eletre hybrid) and feature a 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol engine with three electric motors. A huge – by hybrid standards – 70 kWh battery could provide up to 220 miles (354 km) of electric range.
In the same report Yan Tianxiao, Geely Auto UK’s marketing boss confirmed to the magazine that “we will definitely launch that car in the UK”.
According to reports from China, however, it could get the 1.5 hybrid system from the Galaxy M9 SUV. Whatever the truth, it’ll be backed up by an AI-controlled all-wheel drive system and hopefully the concept’s ability to float for two hours and swim at 5 mph (8.5 km/h).
