CHINA: Geely Wants Overseas Clout, Luxeed R7 and XPeng Cheap Credit | 23 Jan 2026

Welcome back to EV News, China.

Today, Geely wants more overseas clouts.

We'll talk the Luxeade R7 and the X-Pung Cheap Credit Line.

Plus, stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you why Renault's

gone to Shanghai to learn all about China's speed.

Welcome to EV News, China, the podcast dedicated

to the world's largest electric vehicle market.

Each day, I bring you the latest headlines, insights,

and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry.

And decode how fast moving developments in the east

are shaping the global EV landscape.

Geely will kick us off today.

They sold 4.12 million vehicles last year,

up 26% on the previous year.

Things are going well at Geely.

New energy vehicles, what the Chinese call EVs,

did more than half of the heavy lifting,

2.29 million units up almost 60% year on year.

The group now wants to turn domestic scale into overseas power.

By the year 2030, Geely targets 6.5 million global sales,

three-quarters of which will be EVs.

It expects international markets to supply more than a third

of the total and wants global revenue to top $144 billion.

It also aims to rank among the world's top five car makers by 2030.

The Geely brand itself, Geely Auto, in 2025 sold 3 million

of the 4.12 million, beating its 3 million target just and growing by 40% year on year.

Exports at 419,000 vehicles rose as well, a sign of opportunity,

but also friction as Chinese firms push into overseas markets,

worrying about overcapacity and subsidies at home.

For this year, Geely set a sales target of 3.5 million vehicles and 2.22 million

new energy vehicles.

That assumes EV models keep driving the growth,

even as China's EV market is even more fierce and price pressures bite.

If Geely reaches 6.5 million global sales by the end of the decade

and 75% EV, it'll have turned a domestic tilt into a broad international footprint to be

truly one of the world's biggest car makers.

Now, let's talk about the Luxead R7, Pure Electric Ultra.

This is a car from HEMA or H-I-M-A.

And this is an interesting story because they claim,

and while they have the data to back it up, they say,

they claim this is the lowest drag SUV in China,

has a drag coefficient of 0.217.

They say it's been certified by the China Automotive Engineering Research Institute,

the CAERI, and it's the lowest SUV production car in the country.

In a market where Xiaomi's Y-U7 is 0.245, Model Y is 0.22,

and Envo's L60 is 0.229.

Aerodynamics sit at the center of China's new EV arms race.

Central government has told them to play nicely in terms of pricing.

Focus has to move elsewhere.

Why would you buy one brand over another?

An efficiency is turning out to be a big storyline.

The R7's coupe-like silhouette and fast back shape push it towards being almost a sedan,

where the most efficient shapes are normally sitting,

yet the form is only part of the story.

HIMA or HEMA sites more than 20 drag-cutting features, active grille that shuts or opens,

according to cooling demand, a 3D-curved front-wheel winds deflector,

and a front spumper air curtain that clean up airflow.

Flush door handles, frameless mirrors, low-drag wheels,

and a streamlined ducktail spoiler all do the same thing.

Reduce drag.

Engineers also reworked the front lip and air curtain channels.

All about cutting turbulence.

The Luxead R7's energy consumption is on average about 3.5% below the industry average,

and that promises gains not only in range, but things like high-speed stability

and noise vibration handling performance as well.

Now, let's talk about X-Pung.

Deciding that the next battle in China's EV market will be fought not on the outright

sticker price, but in the loan agreement that you sign.

X-Pung is the latest to be offering a seven-year low-interest finance across its lineup.

The headline offer is on the Mona M03, that's a sedan.

The car starts at US$17,000, equivalent to $120,000 RMB,

and they say the buyers who put down 15% will pay $195 per month.

X-Pung also wants to deliver up to 600,000 vehicles this year.

So that's a 28% growth, maybe even more actually.

And long loans will certainly help achieve their math, if not margins.

Others have shown the way in the last few weeks.

Tesla rolled out a seven-year plan on the 6th of January,

pitching savings of almost US$5,000 on a vehicle, rates of 0.98%.

That is much less than the money that they would be borrowing to lend to you.

And so this is very much a hard cost to their business.

Xiaomi and Li Auto then followed, and now X-Pung.

Regulators would like all of this to look like orderly competition and nothing else.

Chinese government bodies have warned car makers against disorderly price wars,

and have encouraged more financial support for consumers, rather than crude discounts.

All right, let's talk about BYD.

They now sell seven of every 10 EVs and plug-in hybrids in Mexico.

It nearly doubled its local sales last year.

Legacy car makers say the market is too small and too early to really matter,

but BYD respectfully disagrees.

Battery electrics and plug-in hybrids are 9% of new car sales in Mexico.

Most global brands have skipped this slice of the market, even as demand is growing.

Chinese firms are paying attention, though.

Their share of Mexico's new car market reached 20% last year, up from nothing five years ago.

Imports of Chinese EVs and plug-in hybrids rose from, well, in 2021,

there were fewer than 500 for the whole country.

Last year, over 100,000.

Price and finance in Mexico do the work.

BYD's Dolphin Mini sells for $2,000 less than the battery-powered Chevrolet Spark EUV,

which you can get there.

But not the Spark you might be thinking of in your head.

BYD dealers say the firm will absorb most of the cost of new tariffs,

up to 50% on products from countries without free trade deals,

which took effect on the 1st of January.

They expect price rises to stay around $852 equivalent, about 15,000 pesos.

BYD offers loans at 7.9%, below the market average of 13-14% in Mexico on auto loans.

Almost 63% of Chinese cars sold in Mexico in at least the first 10 months of last year,

probably for the whole year, were bought on credit.

So this is really important.

Battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids also avoid a federal purchase tax,

qualify for an income tax deduction, and skip annual fees,

at least I think in some parts of Mexico.

I'm pretty sure of that.

Mexico grants EVs, and plug-in hybrids bought between 2025 and 2030

get a tax deduction of up to 86% of their value.

Let's talk about getting really, really cold.

A Chinese branded EV just landed in Antarctica.

And the reason was to go beyond mere publicity stunts,

but to mark China's shift from being a follower to an innovator and then to a rule maker.

China has had a 20-year-plus plan to be a dominant player in the global automotive industry.

And one of the ways they want to do that is to dominate standards,

as its EV and intelligent technologies in some cases pull far ahead.

To show that its EVs can handle the world's harshest climates,

the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, CITARC, bought a built an Antarctic system

of 30 items like development and verification things in five areas.

Driving reliability, functional safety, comfort, intelligent control and thermal management.

The ultra low temperatures in the Antarctic, strong winds, blizzard conditions,

and intense UV radiation provide a proving ground for equipment performance under extreme

conditions. The test feeds straight into the development and iteration of domestically-made

EVs, sharpening their adaptability to cope with harsh environments.

Technical self-reliance anchors the push, though.

China has replaced foreign electronic control simulation and the test benches with its own

domestic ones and developed China's first industrial-grade simulation software for EV R&D.

It's also moved into foundational work like domestically-developing crash test dummies

and testing protocols. China has set up a new center in Geneva, signalling a wish to sit close

to the rule makers. So far, 35 Chinese standards covering safety battery and charging are being

adopted globally as Chinese EVs gain buyers, trading partners, and now adopting their standards.

All right, take a break. We'll come back and more to talk about on the podcast.

All right, welcome back to the podcast. One Chinese SUV has driven through the same-side

tyre blowouts on ice and snow and motorway speeds without spinning out or deviating from its course.

We're talking about Leap Motor, the company backed by Stellantis, and its upcoming D19.

They say it passed two extreme winter tests that simulate a dual failure on one side,

a double blowout on one side of the car. In its first test, the firm detonated both tyres on

the same side. They were driving 80 kilometers per hour on ice and asphalt. The flagship SUV D19

held its line and stayed stable with its electronic control. No loss of driver control or deviation.

The second trial was then done at 120 kilometers per hour on ice and snow. Again,

dual blowout, no fishtailing, no lane departure. These tests are being done to burnish Leap Motor's

safety and chassis credentials ahead of the D19's launch. That should be in April.

The SUV carries its stability systems which are tuned for these kind of events, as well as

precision low-speed manoeuvring and tight radius turning. Unveiled last October,

the D19 team will come in both Bev and EREV versions, six and seven seat layouts,

thousand volt architecture, 540 kilowatts of combined output, 115 kilowatt hour battery pack,

the EREV version pairs all-wheel drive and an 800 volt fast charging system as well. So even the

EREV version is better than most of our purebevs over here. Sell to chassis design on the EREV 80.3

watt hour pack. I mean, you'd never put fuel in the thing. And 500 kilometers of fully electric

driving. They've got the new platform, new Qualcomm chips, loads of computing power,

and a three motor setup as well. Now, let's talk about die casting. And China, again,

moving production for Dongfeng has begun production of a new 16,000 ton die casting

plan in Wuhan, turning out its first product, a battery casing, on the 21st of January.

The site houses what the firm calls the world's largest die casting lines,

one 16,000 ton machine and a 10,000 ton unit. The factory targets large integrated die cast

structural parts for EVs, with an early focus on things like battery castings for models like

the Dongfeng 007, 008, and the Voyager Dreamer. Mass production will start in April,

in China's crowded EV market, where price is important, but increasingly

range and efficiency. Then these big casting machines could actually deliver lighter vehicles,

lower energy use, and well, more range. Construction began in November 2024, finished

in October 2025, output should be 200,000 components for the automotive industry,

a planned second phase adds four production lines, and goes to 600,000 automotive parts a year.

The 16,000 ton die casting machine was designed and built entirely in China,

marking a domestic push as it moves up the value chain. Alongside it, the 10,000 ton machine,

they run a two-mold system. What happens is molten aluminium at 720 degrees celsius gets

injected and formed within two minutes under intense high pressure. Now, let's move on.

FAW Group sold three million vehicles last year and booked more than 541 billion yuan

in revenue at its 2026 Hong Chi supply chain partner conference two days ago. The state-owned

group set out how it wants to turn that scale into an edge. The focus being the Hong Chi brand.

Luxury brand annual sales were 460,000 last year, eight years of growth with that brand,

the first Chinese luxury car maker to pass two million cumulative owners. For this year,

they've set some targets of another half million vehicles. Hong Chi has to hit 550,000 units.

The general manager there said this is the start of a vital five-year plan.

Of course, they just rolled out their first solid state, pure solid state, not semi-solid state,

batteries in vehicles for validation testing, and so some really interesting technology there as

well. And finally, Renault no longer builds fuel-powered cars in China. It picked Shanghai

as the place to learn how to work at China speed. On January the 19th, the boss of Renault in China,

Francois Provost, set a blunt target at their China Development Center in Shanghai,

cut EV development to 16 months for the new things like the Twingo E-Tex, and compressed new model

development from concept to start of production in less than 100 weeks. The aim is to match China

speed and then now grab a growing share of the European market from these Chinese car makers.

Opened in October 2024, the Ampere Development Center sits inside China's rapid-fire EV supply

base. It does more than just style a vehicle for the Chinese market. They run engineering, purchasing,

and cost control through it. It scouts innovation and partnerships as well. They wanted to deliver

China speed for Renault's global business, but nothing to do with combustion,

which the French group stopped making in China when it shut down its joint venture with Dongfeng

a few years ago. The center's first test is the new Twingo. So the Twingo E-Tex designed in France

and built at Renault's plant in Slovenia. It was unveiled in Paris last November.

Now the Chinese center leads work on two derivatives, one badged for Dacia and one badged

for Nissan, Renault's ally in the Alliance. The car will go on sale in Europe this year.

It'll be under 20,000 euros, that's maybe 19,000 pounds, and aimed at the mass end of the market.

We have so much choice between, say, 12,000 and 20,000 here, and Renault has a three-way

joint venture with Dongfeng and Nissan in China, making small volumes of the Dacia

Spring subcompact car in China. They do export that to Europe, but its bet today in Shanghai

is less about volume and more about learning how to get these vehicles to market with faster

model cycles and speed becoming the latest edge in the EV business. And that is your podcast

for today. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you on the next one.

CHINA: Geely Wants Overseas Clout, Luxeed R7 and XPeng Cheap Credit | 23 Jan 2026

About this episode

Geely

new energy vehicles

EVs

EV

Luxead R7

drag coefficient

Xiaomi Y-U7

Tesla Model Y

active grille

X-Pung

BYD

battery electrics

plug-in hybrids

BYD Dolphin Mini

Chevrolet Spark

battery electric vehicles

D19

Leap Motor

stability systems

die casting

Chrysler Voyager

Dongfeng 008

Dongfeng 007

Voyager Dreamer

EV market

FAW Group

Hong Chi

solid state battery

Renault Twingo

EV development

Dacia Spring

joint venture

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