Sights set on a new segment
In just a few short years, the Geely brand has made massive strides in the Philippine market. The brand quickly won over Filipino buyers’ hearts with its SUVs that offered competitive performance at a very appealing price. Being among the top players already in the subcompact SUV segment and with interesting offerings in larger SUV segments, Geely is setting its sights on yet another highly competitive segment in the Philippine market: subcompact sedans. Their challenger is the Emgrand sedan.
Entering this segment — populated by the likes of the Toyota Vios, Honda City, Nissan Almera, and Hyundai Accent — is no easy undertaking. These competitors come from long-established brands with decades of experience in the market. Nonetheless, if Geely was able to break into the highly competitive subcompact SUV segment in spite of the tough competition, perhaps they’ve got what it takes to do the same with sedans.
Making an impression
The Geely Emgrand makes quite an impression. True to its name it has luxurious design hallmarks that make it look like a larger and more expensive car. Many will likely draw comparisons to the Volvo S90 sedan and that’s no coincidence as it’s Geely’s sister brand. It boasts of a broad waterfall grille, projector headlamps with LED daytime running lamps, a distinctive character along the side and a long and low profile. Behind are LED tail lamps that stretch across the trunk. There’s also a diffuser-style rear bumper.
The Emgrand continues to flex when it comes to the interior. Immediately noticeable are the blue and white leather seats. The dashboard also takes on the blue and white theme, a fairly clean and minimalist layout for controls as well as a massive center LCD screen.
The driver gets an LCD instrument cluster that offers a more modern display for vital trip info. Naturally, the view is customizable and display various things from fuel consumption to tire pressure. Towards the center is the massive touchscreen for infotainment. Air con vents are relatively slime and blend into the dash. So too are the controls just below them. This creates far more space just ahead of the stickshift, offering a large space to store your phone or spare change.
Behind, passengers get the same blue and white leather design on the rear bench. There’s aircon vents as well as a USB port to charge gadgets. It also offers generous legroom, making it quite comfortable for those that want to be chauffeured.
Smooth operator
The Emgrand’s engine is brought to life with a push-start button by the aircon controls. It powers up a 1.5-liter gasoline engine that produces 102 hp and 142 Nm. It’s then paired to a CVT for very smooth power transmission to the front wheels.
Once rolling, the Emgrand is incredibly easy to drive. It may look like a large sedan, but it’s the exact opposite at the wheel being very light and stable. It doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement, but it ticks all the boxes when it comes to comfort and ease.
The same can be said of the transmission which is silky smooth but still quite responsive. In fact, it doesn’t even exhibit any of that typical ‘slipping clutch’ feeling most CVTs return. It also helps it easily return anywhere from 10 – 12 km/L.
Like the Coolray, the Emgrand isn’t short on features either. Its package is quite comprehensive, including features one would expect like cruise control, reverse camera, dual SRS airbags, electronic stability control, hill start assist, rear parking sensors, and an electronic parking brake with auto-hold which come standard even in the middle spec variant. This Premium variant adds a power-adjustable driver’s seat, a power sunroof, and six airbags.
The only complaint I might have (and it’s a minor one) are related to controls. The engine start button is oddly located right beside climate controls. The controls for the sunroof are buried inside the touchscreen’s menus. To open the trunk, it’s either with the trunk release button or the fob. No button on the trunk itself. Of course, these are trivial things that just take getting used to. That and the blue and leather seats are also a bit unusual.
Overall, the Geely Emgrand is still a remarkably tempting package. It offers everything you’d expect from a subcompact sedan costing over P1M. Yet this one is just P908,000. Like their Coolray, Geely’s Emgrand also offers an incredibly competitive package at a price lower than much of their competition. This vehicle is easily one of the best examples of how far Chinese brands have come. And their gumption to enter such a competitive segment like subcompact sedans is justified. They’ve got what it takes to win.