Volvo parent company Geely is the latest Chinese EV to be put through the ringer by the European NCAP and Australian ANCAP, and its EX5 electric crossover aced both tests scoring an all-important five-star safety rating.
A common refrain around most American water coolers is that Chinese products aren’t as good as those made elsewhere – despite the fact that most of the guys saying that stuff are surrounded by Chinese tech that works like a champion. But as more of these cars make their way to the West, they’re getting crash-tested … and they’re doing amazingly well.
The Geely EX5 joins the BYD Dolphin, Seal, and Song, the NIO ET5, the XPeng P7 and G9, and the Zeekr X on the five-star NCAP tests. While we’re at it, so have Chinese-built cars from Western brands like Polestar and Volvo.
And look at that test up there. If you know what you’re looking at, you already know that’s a front offset crash with no visible deformation of the A-pillar and no cabin intrusion from the front tire. In other words, it looks like as good a place as any to ride out a car vs. barrier collision at about 50 km – regardless of the “Made in China” badges.
The five-passenger crossover gets 430 km (WLTP cycle) from a 60.2 kWh battery that can be charged to 80% in about 20 minutes. 0-100 km (62 mph) happens in a relatively zippy 6.9 seconds, and both the exterior fit and finish and the interior appointments appear to be at least as good as anything else in the near luxe class (think Acura, Buick, or the Core Volvo models).
All of that is to say that the five star safety rating really isn’t necessary to call the Geely a solid car, but it might be exactly what it takes to get a Western buyer to give it a chance – and once chance is probably all it will need.
Take a look at the EX5 pictures, below, and let us know what you think.