Geely has launched a new hybrid system called i-HEV Intelligent Hybrid as it seeks a stronger foothold in a segment long dominated by Japanese brands.
The company is pitching the new set-up as a more efficient, more electrically driven and more software-heavy alternative to the hybrid formula that helped Japanese makers, especially Toyota, build a formidable global position over the past two decades.
Reuters described the launch as Geely’s attempt to challenge Japanese dominance in the conventional hybrid market.
Geely said the i-HEV system goes straight into mass production and will first appear this year in the Preface, Monjaro, Starray and fifth-generation Emgrand.
The company said the system is built around Full-domain AI 2.0 and an i-CMA architecture, bringing driving, cockpit and chassis functions together through a centralised computing set-up.
Geely is hanging this launch on fuel use and software. It said the engine reaches 48.41% thermal efficiency, while an AI-based energy manager called AI Cloud Power reads changing conditions such as temperature, humidity and altitude in real time to decide the best petrol-electric operating strategy. The company said that improves overall energy efficiency by over 10%.
Geely also said the electric motor delivers up to 230kW, the system can run on electric power nearly 80% of the time, EV-mode speed reaches 66kph, and 0-30kph takes 1.84 seconds.
In a highway test, an Emgrand fitted with the system returned 2.22 litres per 100km, which the company said was verified by Guinness World Records.
Geely is not only talking about lower fuel use. It is also arguing that a Chinese hybrid can match Japanese rivals on refinement, electric-drive feel, computing power and efficiency.
The intent is hard to miss. Geely wants a place in one of the car industry’s richest long-running segments, and this new system is its latest attempt to prise that door open.
