ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Drive devider Geely entering Philippine sedan market soon

Geely entering Philippine sedan market soon

Published Feb 18, 2022 08:00 am

New contender to challenge top brands

Since first arriving in the Philippines in 2019, Geely introduced itself to Filipinos with the Coolray subcompact SUV. The Coolray was immediately won over customers, consistently at the top of its game and dominating the vehicles in its class. To date, the Coolray is still performing above and beyond market expectations.

Several months later, the Azkarra entered the compact SUV market. The Azkarra was introduced at a very difficult time when the country was placed under pandemic lockdown. The Azkarra became a popular choice for people looking for a bigger five-seater vehicle which offers a smooth and refined ride.

Then in late 2020, Geely Philippines made its way into the seven-seater market with the Okavango. With its ride comfort, enormous space, and flexibility, the Okavango offered to many families and individuals a ride that fits different lifestyles. For the past months, the Okavango has been included among the top 5 salable seven-seater MPV/SUVs.

Now, Sojitz G Auto Philippines (SGAP), the official local distributor of Geely, is finally entering the largest and most competitive vehicle segment in the country, sedans. Soon, SGAP will bring in a new challenger to shake up even the long-established leaders in the segment.

“Our confidence in the decision to finally enter the challenging sedan market comes from the overwhelming support and trust we have been getting from the people for the past two years. Not to mention the growing demand for entry level vehicles that started when the pandemic broke out.” SGAP President & CEO Yosuke Nishi said.

The new sedan shares the same platform with Geely’s flagship model Coolray: B-segment Modular Architecture (BMA). The BMA is a new strategic modular architecture developed by the Geely Auto Group. The BMA can be used in compact cars, MPVs, and SUVs. With this development, the new Geely sedan is expected to offer more space, better comfort, and stabler handling.

The soon-to-be launched sedan is exclusively built in Geely Auto’s new “5G Connected Factory” which is a tour-de-force in car manufacturing excellence. It is capable of producing one car every 30 minutes. The factory is highly automated with a 100-percent automated welding line and the presence of Automated Guided Vehicles or AGVs that constantly move around the factory to deliver the specific panels and parts to the different sections of the factory. The AGVs are managed by the super-fast 5G+ network that allows seamless communication between these robots and cloud services that updates live information as inventory levels, production status and the AGV locations.

“As the economy is expected to regain its strength next year, we believe that there is no better time to bring in a new model to usher in more excitement for the Geely brand. Geely has made a significant mark in the Philippine automotive market in terms of sales and awareness in a remarkably short span of time and has aggressively expanded its network despite the pandemic and lockdowns.  We have definitely exceeded what we have projected for Geely brand and we plan to continuously provide the best value products and satisfaction to our customers.”  Nishi added.

What is it called?

If you’ve been paying attention to Geely’s social media pages, you might already have a few clues. Stay tuned to those pages until February 25, 2022. The vehicle will be launched virtually on that date.

Second, the sedan will be positioned in the highly competitive B-segment (subcompact sedan). This puts it squarely against established competitors like the Toyota Vios, Honda City, Nissan Almera, and Hyundai Accent.

Expect the same exceptional styling already present in the Coolray, Okavango and Azkarra. Now a distinct part of the brand design language, expect this new sedan to bear the same expanding cosmos grille. It will also have a full-width LED taillight.

Inside, it will have class-leading appointments and technology. Despite competing in a price-sensitive segment, Geely hopes to sway buyers their way with very good features. It will have a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel, a large 10.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system, and a digital automatic climate control panel.

It will have performance comparable if not better than its peers. However, we have yet to receive specifics on this.

Finally, if the Coolray and Okavango are any indication, you can bet the price will also be highly competitive. Geely has shown it carefully studies its competitors and is adept at offering variants with specs and pricing well suited to the market.

Related Tags

Geely sedan
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.