Lynk & Co confirmed for Australia

Youth-oriented Chinese-Swedish Lynk & Co has confirmed plans to enter the Australian market by 2025.

The local launch is part of an expansion by parent Geely Auto Group (GAG) laid out in its ‘Smart Geely 2025’ roadmap to 3.65 million global sales that year.

“Lynk & Co will expand its global presence by entering Russia, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand among others,” the document stated.

The document also stated GAG’s Geely auto brand would also enter markets in the Asia-Pacific, but Australia was not specifically listed as a destination.

Lynk & Co was created in 2016 and is part of the giant Geely Auto Group along with Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Proton, Zeekr, the London Electric Vehicle Company and Chinese domestic brands Geely, Geometry and Maple.

Its current line-up of SUVs and cars are based on architectures shared with Volvo.

For instance, the recently launched Lynk & Co 09 large SUV is based on the same SPA platform as the Volvo XC90 and uses the same T8 plug-in hybrid all-wheel drive powertrain.

But coming soon is Lynk & Co’s first dedicated electric vehicle, the Zero, which is based on Geely’s SEA (Sustainable Electric Architecture) and is due on sale in China before the end of 2021.

All up, Lynk & Co is planning to launch more than five new “smart models” – meaning electrified – by 2025.

Lynk & Co says the Zero is intended to have a 700km range between recharges and an 800-volt battery pack that has no power degradation for the first 200,000km of its targeted two-million-kilometre lifespan. It is claimed to accelerate from 0-100km/h in less than four seconds.

A Volvo Car Australia (VCA) spokesman denied any knowledge of local Lynk & Co launch plans, apart from the statement in the roadmap.

However, VCA has previously made it clear it is enthusiastic about bringing Lynk & Co into Australia.

Sold in China and Europe, Lynk & Co models are offered both as an outright purchase via direct order and via a subscription. Servicing in Europe is performed by Volvo dealers.

Over the next five years, Geely Auto Group will launch more than 25 new “smart vehicles”, the document revealed.

Apart from the five Lynk & Co models, there will be 10 electrified Geely models with Leishen hybrid powertrains and five Geometry EVs for the mainstream market.

Geely will also introduce a new battery-swapping mobility brand and five new smart battery-swapping pure-electric models, starting in 2023.

It also intends to develop a new-generation electronic architecture dubbed GEEA3.0 that will deliver centralised cloud computing capabilities to cars.

By 2023, Geely says it will begin mass production of silicon carbide power modules.

The 3.65 million sales target is for the Geely, Lynk & Co, Geometry and Zeekr brands, with 600,000 of them accounted for outside China, the roadmap revealed.

“The Geely Auto brand will focus on developing the Eastern Europe, Middle East, South-East Asia and South America markets as well as introducing new energy products to EU and Asia-Pacific markets,” the company said.

“Geely will also continue its support for Proton with the goal of making the brand number one in Malaysia and top three in ASEAN markets with further introduction of new technologies and products.”