Almost real Volvo: an overview of the Geely FY11 cross coupe on the platform and XC40 aggregates
In the Chinese market, coupe-shaped crossovers are actively gaining momentum. For some time now, these versions offer not only foreign premium brands, but also local, including budget versions: Changan has CS85, Haval at the Shanghai Motor Show introduced the F7x, and now the game comes and Geely. In the local market, the Geely FY11 is sold as Xingyue, and for export must present a separate name instead of an alphabetic index FY11.
The public premiere of Geely FY11 took place at the end of March 2019. The parquet flooring will go on sale on the home market tentatively in the third quarter of this year, prices will be announced early next month.
The design of all the latest models of the brand, including FY11, is the responsibility of two people from Volvo: Guy Bergotte, Vice President of Geely Design in Shanghai, and Peter Horbury, Vice President of Geely Design.
The car received matrix LED headlights, quite aggressive front bumper, relief stampings on the hood and sidewalls, as well as the rear bumper with two double exhaust pipes.
It is gratifying that the showcases were put on good big 20-inch wheels - at Chinese exhibitions, one can often see massive cars on small disks.
Despite the sloping roof, the car has enough space on the second row - at least, for a passenger under 180 cm. As for the trunk, its lower section is quite capacious and is not inferior to compact crossovers with a universal body.
- Seats are comfortable, with good side support , comfortable seating
- The location of devices is traditional
- Ergonomics and organization of internal space - quite usual.
The basis of Geely FY11 parquet flooring is the modular CMA (Compact Modular Architecture) platform. This trolley is known to be a joint development with a Volvo owned by the Chinese. It has only a fixed distance between the front axle and the pedal unit, and the other parameters can vary according to the proposed design.
In terms of the platform, Geely FY11 has a unique advantage, which is not available to any of the Chinese cars before - it shares the base with the European car. That is, not with some Volkswagen, which was taken out of production 20 years ago, but with quite modern, safe and premium Volvo XC40, sold, by the way, in Russia.
The length of the coupe-shaped crossover from Geely is 4 605 mm, wheelbase is 2 700 mm. For comparison, Swedish five-door doors have slightly smaller dimensions: 4,425 and 2,702 mm, respectively, that is, they have about the same space in the cabin, but the overhangs of SUV from Geely are larger.
Volvo XC40 shared with Geely FY11 not only the platform but also the engine. Under the hood of the version, which was shown to journalists, there is a Swedish two-liter petrol turbo engine B4204T. If the XC40's power output is 249 hp, the Chinese crossover's output is reduced to 238 hp. The engine is paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission TG-81SC from Aisin. This all-wheel drive Geely FY11 takes 6.8 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h.
It is known that in the home market the model will also be presented with hybrid power units, which include a 177 hp 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine and 7-speed robot DCT with two wet clutches. Hybrids are unlikely to be taken to Russia: demand for such vehicles in our country is too weak.
The equipment of the "Chinese" is rich: Geely FY11 received adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking systems, lane restraint, and collision avoidance, as well as the driver's face recognition function, monitoring of "blind" zones and cameras, parking assistant, wireless charging for smartphones and other options that can be found on Volvo.
Prices for the home market are not yet announced. According to unofficial data, the crossover will cost at least 150 thousand yuan. If this assumption will appear true, Xingyue becomes the most expensive model in a ruler of a mark. In the meantime, this title is held by a hybrid sedan Borui GE.