On October 12, local time, the 2026 Paris Motor Show kicked off. In the heart of the European automobile industry, Chinese car brands are once again in the spotlight. At this year's auto show, Geely Automobile Group's three major brands, Geely, Lynk & Krypton, debuted with the group lineup for the first time, showcasing Geely's global brand layout, product and technological achievements, and the latest developments in European business development.
Over the past few years, China's automobile exports have completed a transition from catching up with a low base to growing into an important variable in the global industrial landscape. Geely is one of the most representative leaders in this wave. As the first Chinese private car company to establish a European layout, Geely has been rooted in Europe for 20 years. Starting with R&D and design, it has gradually built a complete localization system covering production, research, supply and marketing. According to Zhitong Finance, the group debut of the three major brands at the Paris Auto Show was a centralized presentation of Geely's move from overseas products to overseas systems.
Three major brand groups that have been deeply involved in Europe for 20 years debuted
In the first nine months of this year, Geely exported 798,000 vehicles overseas, a sharp increase of 169% over the previous year. The strong growth performance is the best footnote for Geely Automobile to actively integrate into the world with “One Geely” after the “Taizhou Declaration”. For Geely, the European market can be said to be the most important strategic market in its global landscape. According to Geely's “123456” overseas sales plan, the overseas sales target for the next 2-3 years is 2 million units, including 600,000 units in Pan-Europe and 300,000 units in Eastern Europe, totaling 900,000 units, accounting for nearly half.
Facing this Paris Motor Show, Geely Auto's lineup is an “all-star”. The Geely brand Monjaro EM-i (Xingyue L plug-in overseas version) debuted in Europe. Geely Xingyuan, Galaxy E5, and Galaxy Starship 7 also appeared on the same stage. Extreme Krypton exhibited the Extreme Krypton 9X for the European high-end SUV market, and Lynk & Co brought a variety of plug-in hybrid models already sold in Europe, such as the 01 and 08EM-P.
After being deeply involved in Europe for 20 years, Geely has established a complete localization system covering production, research, supply and marketing in Europe. This is the driving force that supports Geely's deep integration into the European market. For example, on the R&D and design side, Geely has formed a collaborative network of the three major design centers in Milan, Gothenburg, and Coventry and the three engineering R&D centers in Coventry, Gothenburg, and Frankfurt in Europe. In March of this year, Geely further integrated Swedish and German R&D resources and established a new technology subsidiary, effectively shortening the global model development cycle.
On the production side, on July 23, Geely Auto announced that it would acquire 34% of Ford's Valencia plant in Spain for 221 million euros and set up a joint venture manufacturing company. This is also a landmark event in the 2026 localization layout of Chinese car companies in Europe.
As the birthplace of traditional luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Porsche, the European market's requirements for brand recognition and value recognition are far higher than in other regions, and it is difficult for Chinese car companies to truly integrate if they only “go overseas on a large scale.” The breakthrough in high-end technology is a strong proof that Geely has gained greater influence in the European market. Just last month, the Extreme Krypton 9X announced the German price. The Black Line version sold for close to 1 million yuan, making it the most expensive Chinese mass-produced car sold in the European Union. The significance of this price tag is not the number itself, but rather the fact that Chinese brands have gained equal pricing rights in the heart of traditional luxury cars — from entering with cost performance in the past to participating in value competition in the high-end market with product power and brand power.
The output of intelligent capabilities is also an iconic step. This year, the Qianli Haohan G-ASD passed the EU's unified entry standard UN R171 certification, becoming the first mass-produced assisted driving system in China that is legally qualified to go on the road in Europe. This means that Chinese car companies are no longer limited to exporting vehicle products; they are a systematic export of intelligent software, system capabilities, and brand soft power.
Geely sample value from price competition to system competition
As Chinese automobiles go overseas and move from “product trade” to “system export,” the model of relying on cost performance to break through is also becoming less and less suited to the current market environment and competitive environment. High-end and globalization are becoming the core grippers of Chinese car companies' anti-domestic policies, and the implementation of both is inseparable from the ability to systematize. Looking back at Geely's overseas layout in this context, its strategic logic is particularly clear: the strategic focus and resource coordination under the “One Geely” strategy just answered the proposition of “how to systematize overseas”.
At the level of brand collaboration, the brands under the Geely Automobile Group have formed a clear division of labor in Europe: Geely undertakes scale growth and new energy expansion, Linker penetrates the middle and high-end markets, and Extreme Krypton impacts the luxury pure electric market, covering the complete price range from mainstream to high-end.
On the basis of the differentiated layout of the three major brands, Geely has also further opened up channel resources within the group, and Volvo Cars will be the exclusive distributor of Lynk & Co in Europe from January 2027. Looking at Geely's adjustment from a global perspective, its essence is an efficient reuse of channel resources. Previously, Volvo had established a mature dealer network and high-end brand awareness in Europe, providing channel support for Lynk & Co, which not only helped Lynk & Co enter the European middle and high-end market at a lower cost and faster, but also enhance the utilization rate of Volvo's existing channels and achieve two-way benefits from within the group's resources. Using “group combat” to replace fighting alone not only reduces the risk and cost of a single brand going overseas, but also allows the brand matrix to form a synergy in different market segments.
At the level of market layout, Geely has constructed a multi-tiered market matrix: Europe focuses on high-value circuits and refines brand premiums; ASEAN stabilizes its basic market; and explores growth in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. At present, Geely products have covered 114 core markets and penetrated 17 emerging markets. The multi-regional hierarchical layout distributes the operating risks brought about by changes in a single geographical environment, making overseas growth more certain.
What is more noteworthy is that Geely's globalization is not at the cost of squeezing local industries. Take Ford's Valencia factory cooperation in Spain as an example. Geely has achieved mutual benefit and win-win through industrial symbiosis by revitalizing idle production capacity and creating high-tech employment.
Finally, let's take a look back at the group debut of Geely's three major brands at the Paris Auto Show. This is not only a concentrated presentation of the results of Geely's 20 years of intensive cultivation in Europe, but also a new starting point. In the historical process of Chinese automobiles going overseas to accelerate from “selling products” to “building a system” and from price competition to value competition, Geely's practice of participating in global competition with systematic capabilities has achieved phased results from product premiums to brand recognition, from single point breakthroughs to group collaboration, and this is also expected to provide a reference path for the global development of Chinese car companies.