EV brand Lynk & Co coming to New Zealand

Monday, 8 November 2021

Lynk & Co first electric car is nearly here.

Lynk & Co, the ‘youthful’ brand of Volvo’s parent company Geely, will get a global expansion in the next four years, including a New Zealand launch.

It’s not even the word from an executive in an interview either. The launch is part of the ‘Smart Geely 2025’ strategy, designed to boost Geely’s sales to 3.65 million across the world.

“Lynk & Co will expand its global presence by entering Russia, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand among others,” the document stated.

Lynk & Co’s Zero is the first all-electric model from the brand, and the first to use Geely’s new electric platform.

The company has an array of SUVs and cars, riding on architectures shared with stablemate Volvo. The Lynk & Co 09 large SUV uses the XC90’s SPA platform and the same T8 plug-in hybrid all-wheel drive powertrain, while four Lynk & Co models use the CMA architecture, like the Volvo XC40.

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All-wheel drive and electric power means the Zero should be quite quick on the 0-100kmh sprint.

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Its next model, the all-electric Zero, will use Geely’s SEA (Sustainable Electric Architecture), multiple electric motors for all-wheel drive and offer a range of up to 700km thanks to an 800-volt, 100kWh battery pack.

Apparently, the battery pack will have no power degradation for the first 200,000km of its reported two-million-kilometre lifespan, both hugely impressive claims.

And being electric, it will have an obscenely quick 0-100kmh time, expected to be less than four seconds. We already know Lynk & Co is capable of building fast cars, as the 03 Cyan Concept lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7 minutes and 20.143 seconds back in 2019.

Beyond the Zero, Lynk & Co have plans for five new electrified vehicles by 2025. Geely also wants to launch a new battery-swapping brand and five new battery-swappable EVs by 2023.

Unfortunately, Geely isn’t committing to a New Zealand/Australian launch just yet. “The Geely Auto brand will focus on developing the Eastern Europe, Middle East, South-East Asia and South America markets as well as introducing new energy products to EU and Asia-Pacific markets,” the company said.

Lynk & Co vehicles are currently sold in China and Europe, either as an outright purchase or through a subscription. Volvo's dealers service the cars in Europe.

Stuff has reached out to Volvo New Zealand to see if it knows anything about a local launch.