Lynk & Co 01 SUV

The Lynk & Co 01 SUV will hit the Chinese car market in Q4. Lynk & Co is a new brand under the Geely Holding Group, alongside Geely, Volvo, and the London Taxi Company. Export to Europe and North America is set to start in 2019.

When the brand was launched last year many said Lynk & Co sounded too much like Lincoln. Geely denied that, saying it was totally different. But they don’t help themselves with the Chinese name: Lingke. The Chinese name of Lincoln is… Linken. Different characters, but they sound almost exactly the same.

Price of the Lynk & Co 01 will range from 130.000 to 190.000 yuan (US$ 19.000 – 28.000). In China the Lynk & Co cars will be sold via a separate dealer network and via the internet. For internet sales the company cooperates with Alibaba. Interestingly, for internet sales in the North American and European markets it will cooperate with Microsoft.

Lynk & Co says it will offer for free  warranty, road-side rescue services, and data traffic for the entire life of the vehicle. That is an unprecedented offer and also one that seems very expensive.

The Lynk & Co brand will be aimed at millennials and the cars will therefore be equipped with technology and apps that allowing the owner to share his car with others, or to rent it out when he doesn’t need it, in the Airbnb way.

The 01 SUV is based on the new Volvo-Geely CMA platform, which will also underpin the upcoming new Volvo 40-Series, which was previewed by the 40.1 and 40.2 concept cars.

At launch there will be two engines available, both developed and manufactured by Volvo:

1) a 1.5 liter turbocharged 3-cylinder with 177 hp. Engine code: GB15T. Top speed: 205 km/h.
2) a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder with 187 hp. Engine code: B4204T30. Top speed: 210 km/h.

Output of the 2.0 turbo is surprisingly low, just ten horses more than the 1.5 turbo. Four-wheel drive is standard on the 2.0 and optional on the 1.5 turbo. A hybrid based around the 1.5 turbo will be added to the lineup later. Dimension size is 4512/1857/1650 mm, and wheelbase is 2734 mm. Curb weight is 1484 kilo.