Lynk & Co ruled out for Oz until at least 2028

Chinese brand Lynk & Co has delayed its planned Australian introduction and will instead focus on the Zeekr brand that is also part of parent company Geely.

Speaking at the Shanghai motor show, the vice president of Zeekr Group and CEO of Zeekr International, Mars Chen, said Lynk & Co was at least three years from being launched Down Under.

That puts it well behind its previously announced 2025 deadline to hit the Australian market as part of a roadmap laid out in 2021.

“Lynk & Co will not enter right-hand-drive markets,” said Chen, later clarifying such a move would be in 2028 at the earliest.

Whereas Lynk & Co was previously part of the broader Geely group – which also owns Volvo, Polestar and Lotus – it’s now come under the management of fledgling Zeekr, which hit the Australian market late in 2024.

Chen says the focus for Australia and other right-hand-drive markets such as the UK is Zeekr, which has aspirations of carving a slice of the premium market dominated by the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

“Instead of bringing a new brand we need to think about bringing some nice models for Zeekr,” he said.

Zeekr already sells the X small SUV and 009 luxury people mover and will soon start selling the 7X mid-sized SUV.

Chen also says the brand will get a new large SUV, although Zeekr hasn’t confirmed if it will be the just-revealed 9X uber-luxury model or a yet-to-be-announced smaller model.

But Lynk & Co also offers plenty of potential, with a broader range of plug-in hybrid models including the just-released 900.

The large SUV is heavily focused on luxury. While it has three rows of seats, the middle row has two captain’s chairs, limiting overall capacity to six people.

Those middle seats can electronically rotate through 90 degrees to create a conference-style layout with the third row when the car is parked.

There’s also Nappa leather, a 31-speaker sound system and dual 30-inch screens with 6K resolution – one up front and one that folds out of the roof for rear-seat passengers.

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