Geely Monjaro SUV heads brand’s Irish arrival

Hang on, is this Complete Car or LinkedIn?

Hold fire: we’re getting to the car stuff. While we’ve already reviewed some of Geely’s new models (have a look here…), there’s another brand-new car coming soon.

As it’s a chunky plug-in-hybrid SUV, it sounds just about perfectly suited to the Irish car market where it will be a rival for the likes of the BYD Seal-U DM-i and the MG HS. Meet the Geely Monjaro EM-i.

That name sounds familiar…

Well, Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, located in Tanzania, near the border with Kenya and Geely reckons that this new SUV is the inspired by that peak: “pure, snow-covered summit embodies the harmony of grandeur and purity, strength and restraint. Rooted in the philosophy ‘Peak Within. Drive Beyond’, the Geely Monjaro EM-i represents an ethos of ambition and composure, expressing the essence of a strong character.”

I don’t speak marketing; can you translate?

Geely reckons its car is good. Not much of a surprise there, admittedly. The Monjaro EM-i will get a proper public debut at next week’s Paris Motor Show, but you can see from these images that it’s chunky and handsome, with some hints of Audi Q7 and Q8 in the side profile while the big grille at the front kind of puts us in mind of various Lincoln models from the US. 

What engine does it have?

As with almost all Chinese-made plug-in-hybrid SUVs, the Monjaro comes with a turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine combined with a big battery and a powerful electric motor.

It’ll likely have an electric range of around 80km, and a total combined petrol-and-electric range of 1,000km. Geely says that the Monjaro’s chassis has been “tuned to European standards” so hopefully some of the Lotus boys have been able to get under it with their spanners. 

How much will it cost in Ireland?

Good question. We’ll take a blind guess at around the €50,000 mark, but we’ll get more details as Geely Ireland’s operations start to spool up.