The giants of the Chinese auto industry are moving in Europe. They move quickly and voraciously. And the reason is clear: they have now saturated the domestic market. For example, Byd, their flagship for produced and registered vehicles, has seen profits collapse by 38 percent in the last quarter, while locally its market share has shrunk by ten percentage points. Hence the decision to bet everything on exports, setting the ambitious goal of selling 1.3 million cars in 2026 in markets outside China. To defend itself from such aggression and driven by the same needs, Geely – which, thanks to the brands in its portfolio Volvo, Lotus, and Polestar, has long held a presence in the Old Continent – is moving in turn.
R&D WITH A EUROPEAN FOCUS
In this sense, Geely’s decision to unify the research and development centers located in Gothenburg (Sweden) and Frankfurt (Germany, under the name Geely Technology Europe, a unit that will have a single CEO: Giovanni Lanfranchi, already CEO of the internal brand Zeekr) must be understood.
The new entity, instead of working in silos, will proceed in unison and above all will receive directives from the Geely Research Institute in China, which intends to develop global platforms to avoid costly modifications depending on the market and especially to unify the platforms of Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Volvo, and Smart. The idea, therefore, is to optimize time and resources by avoiding waste and redundant processes.
HALVING DISTRIBUTION TIMES
Geely intends to double the projects to increase sales rates. But above all, it aims to streamline dead times: currently, cars launched in China arrive in Europe with an average delay of about one year. The goal is to halve these times.
The roadmap is tight: what the Chinese company announced must be fully operational by 2027. By that date, the European branch of the Asian manufacturer must behave like a true Old Continent automaker. Or almost.
GEELY IS MOVING VERY FAST
The Chinese group headquartered in Hangzhou registered globally 270,167 vehicles in January, with a 1% increase over the same month in 2025 and a +14% over December 2025. Outside the Chinese market, Geely’s international sales also reached 60,506 units in January 2026, representing a triple-digit increase (121% year-on-year).
For the entire 2026, the Geely Auto group aims to reach 3.45 million vehicles sold globally: of these, a full 640,000 units must be placed in international markets (equal to 18.5% of the total).
