Geely undertakes local testing and gears up to EX5 launch

Last week, Geely, an upcoming EV brand in the Australian market, opened pre-orders of its first electric car, the EX5, which is aimed at the popular family SUV market with a price potentially lower than $40,000.

Now, the brand has confirmed that it has been undertaking local testing to fine-tune suspension and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) as part of an extensive Australian evaluation program.

According to Geely, the company has spent the last 12 months understanding local drivers and how many of them would use their vehicles to ensure the new EX5 performs on our local roads as it lands in the coming months.

Li Lei, Head of Geely Auto Australia, said: “Geely is extremely proud of the work the Australian team has done to make the Geely EX5 fit-for-purpose for the local market. We now have a great understanding of what Australian car consumers need in a vehicle, how they use it and what features they love,”.

On the EX5 suspension tuning, unique road surfaces such as those with coarse asphalt or those with rougher rides, main highways and suburban streets were all tested locally and the car has been finetuned to ensure it performed as expected by local drivers.

“We wanted to ensure the car offered a great experience for Australians and these adjustments will deliver a smoother ride over rough surfaces, improved stability for long-distance journeys, and the durability to handle variable loads — all while maintaining the comfort, confidence and reliability consumers expect,” Lei said.

From a suspension setup point of view, the EX5 uses Macpherson independent front suspension and multi-link independent suspension on the rear to help with it offering a comfortable ride.   

Another area that the Geely local testing team has spent a bit of time on for our local market is the ADAS system. 

Many vehicles at launch have seen these systems not correctly calibrated to local conditions so undertaking the testing prior to launch would make the driving experience more seamless for new owners.

On the EX5, the Geely local and head office product teams evaluated and have benchmarked common ADAS systems such as lane-keep assist (LKA), traffic sign information (TSI)  recognition, and driver monitoring systems.

The EX5 comes standard with key safety features across both its variants which include: 

• 7 airbags  
• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) 
• Lane-keep assist systems 
• Driver monitoring system 
• Evasive maneuver assist 
• Front & rear cross-traffic alert  
• Intelligent cruise control

Last week, Geely opened its pre-orders for the EX5 electric SUV, its first model in the Australian market, with two local variants seen on the company’s online configurator.

These included the Inspire and Complete, and for buyers who place pre-orders by the end of this month, 3 years of free servicing and up to 1,000 kWh of free DC charging in the first year of ownership is offered.

Pricing of the local model is yet to be released but we expect it to start in the sub-$40,000 mark.

An initial batch of the EX5 vehicles will arrive locally in the coming weeks, and pricing and detailed specifications will be confirmed at the model’s official launch. Interested drivers can pre-order the car from the company’s website.