Geely Auto has assembled its first EX5 EM-i hybrid SUV in Brazil, with the vehicle coming off the upgraded Ayrton Senna Industrial Complex it runs jointly with Renault. The model is due on sale in the country before 2026 ends, and the company frames the milestone as the first tangible result of its local partnership with the French automaker.
To accommodate Geely products, the plant was modernized around the group's GEA platform, which can host combustion, flex-fuel hybrid, and fully electric drivetrains. A second model, the EX2 electric hatchback, is slated for production there in December — a timeline that sits oddly with a June statement in which Geely had already declared local mass production of that car underway.
The buildout stems from a cooperation deal signed in November 2025, under which Geely Holding Group and Geely Auto are taking a 26.4 percent stake in Renault do Brasil while the French group keeps control. The arrangement opens Renault's Brazilian industrial and commercial infrastructure to Geely, and in return lets Renault use the GEA architecture to broaden its zero- and low-emission lineup. Victor Yang, a senior vice president at Geely Holding, called Brazil a "strategic market" in the group's global footprint.
Local assembly lands amid booming export momentum: Geely's overseas deliveries jumped 205.16 percent year on year to 110,094 vehicles in August, and reached 690,985 units over the first eight months of 2026, up 170.48 percent — far outpacing the company's overall sales growth of 2.44 percent in the same period.