Geely Galaxy's Million Ambition

Author | Zhou Zhiyu

Editor | Zhang Xiaoling

With the goal of achieving one million sales this year, Geely Galaxy has launched a new round of offensive.

On the evening of May 9, Geely Galaxy Xingyao 8 entered the mid-to-high-end electric hybrid sedan market with a starting price of 115,800 yuan, making its ambition of "starting as a flagship" clear. More notably, Geely Galaxy's sales from January to April have exceeded 356,000 units, with cumulative sales surpassing 930,000 units. It is expected to achieve one million deliveries in May.

From the first vehicle rolling off the production line in April 2023 to one million deliveries, Geely Galaxy took only 25 months; this year, Geely Galaxy is racing towards its goal of one million annual sales.

In the context of an intense competition in intelligence and an ongoing price war, Geely Galaxy is attempting to carve out a niche in the red ocean market through technological innovation, product upgrades, and marketing reforms.

In interviews following the press conference, executives including Yi Xinyu, the head of Geely Brand Research Institute, repeatedly emphasized, "Safety is '1', everything else is '0'." Safety has also become the best annotation for the technological path of Xingyao 8.

As the first mid-to-high-end sedan equipped with the Shen Dun battery safety system, Xingyao 8 has achieved industry-first "oil, electricity, and gas isolation design" and "six horizontal and four vertical oil-electric insurance compartments" in terms of "oil-electric symbiotic safety." Its star armor cage body uses an integrated hot-formed boron steel door ring, combined with a "clover" pressure relief structure, achieving a torsional rigidity of 43,000 N·m/deg, far exceeding competitors in the same class. In addition to passive safety, the Xingyao 8's EMA high-speed emergency steering assistance system can actively avoid obstacles at a speed of 120 km/h.

On the intelligence front, Geely has chosen a differentiated route: returning the choice to users. Although the entire series is equipped with the Qianli Haohan intelligent driving assistance system (5R2V configuration, 100 TOPS computing power), Geely still launched a basic assisted driving version to lower the purchase threshold with a "standard but not mandatory" strategy.

Behind this decision is Geely's deep insight into user needs. "Not all users need advanced intelligent driving; forcing standardization will only raise costs," admitted Fan Junyi, general manager of Geely Automobile Sales Company.

More noteworthy is that Geely is strengthening its industry voice through technological openness. The all-domain safety experimental center, built at a cost of 2 billion yuan, has achieved intelligent driving testing in extreme environments and multi-angle collision simulations for the first time, and will be open to the entire industry in the future. "Safety is in Geely's genes, but in the past, we 'did without speaking.' Now, we want users to see the systemic strength behind safety," said Li Chuanhai, vice president of Geely Automobile Group.

"Intelligence is not about showmanship, but about solving real pain points," Fan Junyi emphasized repeatedly in the interview.

In today's new energy vehicle market, competition in product strength has long surpassed "parameter comparison" and entered the era of "emotional value." The success or failure of marketing strategies often determines a product's market performance. The launch strategy of Geely Galaxy Xingyao 8 demonstrates a shift in thinking from "price war" to "value war."

Fan Junyi revealed in the interview that the pricing of Xingyao 8 is not simply about cost reduction, but about achieving value transfer through "configuration downshift" and "process innovation." For example, the development of the Jihai Blue color took 1,000 hours, but the cost was kept within an acceptable range; the Qianli Haohan intelligent driving assistance system is standard across the board, but two options, "basic version" and "advanced version," were launched to meet different needs This "user sovereignty" mindset not only avoids the waste of "over-functionality" but also retains the technological leadership of the product.

As of April 2025, Geely Galaxy has established 997 channels and has 176 under construction, with the overall channel count exceeding 1,000. However, Fan Junyi emphasized, "The number of channels is not the goal; quality is."

In the context of increasingly scenario-based user demands for new energy vehicles, Geely Galaxy has divided its channels into "A Network" and "Star Network," focusing on differentiated services for fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles, respectively. For example, the Star Network channels are setting up "community experience stores" in third- and fourth-tier cities to enhance user stickiness through "scenario-based test drives" and "family travel solutions."

However, in terms of overall marketing strategy, Geely Galaxy appears restrained and pragmatic. Fan Junyi pointed out that the product is the ship, and marketing is the sail. If the sail is too large, the ship will capsize.

Fan Junyi and other executives like Lin Jie have opened Weibo accounts not to build personal IPs but to serve as a channel for "the voice of the user." "Last year, user feedback on the upgrade needs for the Flyme system was directly relayed to the R&D side through Weibo," Fan Junyi stated.

Li Chuanhai revealed that this year is a big year for Geely Galaxy's products, with some models featuring intelligent assisted driving systems that meet national standards expected to be released in the second half of the year.

In addition, existing popular models like Xingyuan and Galaxy E5 will stabilize their base through configuration upgrades and word-of-mouth marketing. "The user referral rate is key to the sales rise of Xingyuan. In Nanjing, one community is even filled with Xingyuan vehicles, each in a different color," Fan Junyi cited as an example.

However, for Geely Galaxy, an annual sales target of one million is just the starting point; the real competition lies in the second half.

Although sales from January to April have exceeded 356,000 units, the mid-to-high-end hybrid market where the Xingyao 8 is located also faces strong competitors like BYD Han. While Geely Galaxy's "high quality and favorable price" strategy can quickly open up the market, it also needs to answer how to avoid falling into the profit trap of "exchanging price for volume" and how to break through in brand elevation.

BYD's vertical integration capability, Huawei's intelligent halo, and the user operation methodologies of new forces are all squeezing Geely Galaxy's survival space. However, Geely Galaxy's trump card lies in its backing of 39 years of manufacturing accumulation within the group, which gives it a better understanding of cost control than new forces; compared to traditional car companies, it has a lighter transformation burden. As Fan Junyi said, "Walking on two legs (fuel + new energy) is correct and the most stable."

In the new energy vehicle market, a simple price war cannot be sustained; only through technological definition, product innovation, and user co-creation can a "blue ocean" be opened in the "red sea." As the battle for "one million sales" approaches its end, the real challenge may just be beginning, which will also determine whether Geely can reclaim the throne of "the number one independent brand."