The European market for affordable electric vehicles is about to experience a real shock. The absolute bestseller on the Chinese market - the cute hatchback Geely Galaxy Xingyuan - is officially packing its bags for the Old Continent. Here, however, it will leave behind its complicated Asian name and attack showrooms under the much cleaner and easier to remember designation Geely E2 (and in the UK it will be marketed as EX2). The offensive starts next month, with the first lucky ones who will be able to touch it at the end of the summer being buyers in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, followed immediately by a wave in other European countries.
To understand what a formidable arsenal this new player has, it is enough to look at the statistics: for the first five months of this year, a staggering 160,800 units of the model have been sold in China, making it the most purchased electric car in its homeland. In China, its price range varies in the extremely appetizing range between 64,800 and 94,800 yuan (approximately from 8,400 to 12,300 euros). Naturally, upon arrival in Europe, logistics costs, taxes and salty European customs duties will have their say and the price of the Geely E2 in our market will inevitably move up, but nevertheless it is expected to remain highly competitive.
From the point of view of architecture, the new Geely E2 is a classic, compact five-door representative of the B-class with a length of 4.1 meters. The designers have opted for a friendly face, streamlined, fluid shapes and smooth lines of the body, which skillfully hide the surprisingly spacious interior. Inside the cabin, we are greeted by a digital symphony of two screens on the front dashboard, controlled by a modern operating system. The luggage compartment offers a completely decent 375 liters of volume for everyday urban needs. The model will be offered in three different equipment levels, and even in the basic version the Chinese have been more than generous, including extras such as heated seats.
Under the hood of the European specification, there is no room for compromises. The Geely E2 comes equipped with a nimble 114-horsepower rear-axle electric motor powered by a 39.4 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery. This configuration provides the small city ace with acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in a very respectable 10.2 seconds and a top speed of 140 km/h. However, the most important trump card is the autonomous range - on a single charge, the compact hatchback can travel a very real 317 kilometers according to the strict European WLTP measurement cycle, making it the perfect weapon for everyday urban and intercity racing.