At a brand event night held in the lead up to the 2020 Beijing Motor Show, Lynk & Co unveiled the first look at the future of the brand intended to be a leader in pure electric vehicles globally. The Zero Concept is a luxury crossover-ish vehicle based on its SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) to be used as the basis for all new electric vehicles within Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. China’s leading privately-owned automotive group aims for it to be the world’s first open-source architecture that will be shared with other third-party vehicle manufacturers for their own electric vehicle development.
The concept was designed in the Gothenburg studio that created the Lynk & Co range of vehicles—starting with the 01 SUV in 2018—that has sold over 300,000 units in China. It follows the first concept, the CCC, that in 2016 set the design direction for the brand, which has grown from the 01 to five models including SUV, crossover, coupe SUV, and sedan models. The Zero is an extension of the CCC in using the brand’s unique design language.
Peter Horbury, Senior Vice President of Geely Design, said that the Zero Concept is the result of first-class design combined with state-of-the-art technologies that allow for a zero-emission future: “We have encompassed passion, performance, and pure electrification into the Zero Concept.”
Using the SEA architecture allowed for short overhangs front and rear and a dynamic profile that fits the position of the concept as a technology-orientated performance touring coupe with a wheelbase just under 3000 mm (118 in). Sustainability is a primary focus of the concept, with the use of high-tech sustainable materials being used throughout to enhance the production variant’s zero-emissions credentials.
“Our new electric architecture gives us the freedom to develop beautifully proportioned cars that are elegant, flexible, and completely dynamic,” said Stefan Rosen, Head of Lynk & Co Design. “Sustainability is key in our design strategy; we believe in a future with carefully selected materials and new technologies.”
Billed to be the world’s first open-source electric vehicle architecture, Geely Holding promises that the SEA to transform the availability of zero-emissions cars and trucks in the world’s largest auto markets. It plans to deploy the architecture across its portfolio of nine global automotive brands, which collectively sold over 2 million units in 2019.
The first model based on the architecture will be the production version of the Zero Concept in 2021. Geely Holding will also shop the architecture to other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and third parties.
“Our development of this transformative electric vehicle architecture marks the biggest leap forward at Geely in more than a decade,” said Li Shufu, Chairman and Founder of Geely Holding. “…And we intend to offer the benefits of this innovation to other manufacturers—reflecting the common interests in our industry in addressing the challenges of climate change. Open-source architectures will be a hallmark of new mobility services, of which Geely Holding is proud to be the pioneer.”
Geely Holding has had preliminary discussions with other global OEMs about the potential use of the architecture. It can underpin A-segment through to larger D- and E-segment vehicles and will have a variant developed for light commercial vehicles with different packaging offerings including front-, rear-, and all-wheel-drive specifications across the spectrum.
SEA was developed over three years at R&D centers in China, Sweden, the UK, and Germany. Its application will expand upon shared-architecture benefits that Geely brands have already achieved with the group’s CMA (Common Module Architecture) used on nearly 700,000 vehicles since its 2018 introduction.
“This is a highly scalable pure-electric architecture that will allow us to make best-in-class vehicles with leading dynamics, connectivity, intelligence, and shared functionality in very high volumes that will bring zero-emission transportation to many more consumers,” said Kent Bollevan, Head of Advanced Vehicle Architectures at Geely Holding, who led SEA’s technology development.
Geely Holding estimates that, in the short-term, hundreds of thousands of SEA-based vehicles will be produced in China, with numbers ramping up considerably in the long term as its brands introduce new SEA-based products. The group expects the architecture will attract both B2B and B2C customers with its connectivity, shared, e-motor, over-the-air update, and autonomous-drive functions. Synergies generated by the architecture are expected to reduce development costs at participating group brands and to generate substantial savings on R&D costs.
The 2021 SEA-based Zero production version, built at a new Eastern China facility, will support full-life over-the-air updates with artificial intelligence supporting full voice interaction. It will feature Mobileye’s SuperVision scalable advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), with surround-view and over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities using the supplier’s EyeQ5 system-on-chip (SoC). (See more at https://bit.ly/2SijrWt.) Expectations are for a range in excess of 700 km (435 mi), by NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) measures, and a sub 4-s 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time.
