Chinese EVs in New Zealand — week of 21 August 2026: Geely's NZ$22,990 EX2, the Starray extended range, and what July's +231% BEV surge means

New Zealand's plug-in vehicle market has recovered sharply from its 2024 trough, when the government scrapped the Clean Car Discount subsidy scheme. By July 2026 the country recorded roughly 30% plug-in penetration of new-car sales, with battery-electric vehicles alone up 231% year-on-year. The reversal suggests that pent-up demand — suppressed while buyers waited for prices to fall — is now unlocking.

Chinese brands are the principal beneficiaries. Zeekr's 7X took second place overall (151 units), BYD's Atto 3 finished third (121 units), and Geely's EX5 came fourth (111 units). Toyota's BZ4X was the only non-Chinese model in the top five. On the plug-in hybrid side, a similar pattern: Sealion 7, MG4, Jaecoo J5 and ORA5 all appear in the top ten. The market is not just price-driven — Zeekr's 7X, at a significantly higher price point than most rivals, outsold everything except the Tesla Model Y.

The total EV fleet now stands at approximately 100,000 BEVs and 50,000 PHEVs, or roughly 3.4% of New Zealand's registered vehicle parc. That figure is modest but the trajectory is steep. For UK buyers, New Zealand matters as a live laboratory: it is RHD, has no domestic manufacturing lobby, and receives most of the same Chinese models the UK market sees.

Two Geely models arrived in New Zealand in August 2026 that are worth tracking. The first is the EX2 — sold in China as the Xingyuan — at a confirmed NZ$22,990 base price. At roughly NZ$23,000 it is among the cheapest new electric cars available in New Zealand and undercuts most rivals substantially. The Xingyuan/EX2 is Geely's high-volume city EV in China, where it has been competing with the BYD Seagull. Its appearance in New Zealand at this price is significant: it confirms that Geely is willing and able to price aggressively in RHD markets.

The second arrival is the Starray EM-i in extended-range form. The Starray is Geely's mid-size SUV (sold in the UK under the Geely brand or, in some markets, as a variant of the Galaxy platform). The standard Starray uses an 18.4 kWh PHEV battery; the extended-range variant more than doubles this to 29.8 kWh, substantially increasing the EV-only range available to buyers who cannot charge at work or need longer EV driving windows. Both NZ models come with a 7-year unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty plus an 8-year high-voltage battery warranty — terms that match or exceed what most European brands offer, though UK buyers should verify the exact terms applicable to any UK-market variant directly with Geely UK before purchase.

For buyers wondering whether Geely is a brand to trust with a long-term purchase, the H1 2026 numbers are broadly reassuring. Revenue rose 15% year-on-year to 1,736 billion yuan (roughly £175 billion), with core net profit up 46% to 96.8 billion yuan. Gross margin sits at 17.9%, and exports generate a higher margin (22–25%) than domestic Chinese sales (approximately 15%) — meaning the international business is actually the more profitable half of the group.

New-energy vehicles now account for approximately 56% of total sales: Geely sold 1.423 million vehicles in H1 2026, of which around 800,000 were NEVs (BEV, PHEV, or EREV). That transition rate is fast enough to qualify Geely as a serious electrification player, not just a Chinese petrol brand appending an EV trim. The group has also already hit its original full-year export target (640,000 units) by mid-August, prompting a revision to 920,000. Geely's 2030 ambition is 6.5 million vehicles and 1 trillion yuan in revenue — the kind of scale target that requires consistent quality and a functioning global network to deliver.

New Zealand is a useful proxy for the UK. Both markets are right-hand drive, have no Chinese vehicle manufacturing history, import most of the same Chinese models at relatively similar price points, and are heavily served by the same brands (BYD, MG, Geely, Leapmotor, Zeekr). When New Zealand's plug-in share approaches 30% on the back of Chinese brand competitiveness, it tells you something real about whether these brands can hold their own without home-market subsidy.

For the UK specifically, three takeaways stand out. First, Zeekr 7X is outselling almost everything in NZ except the Tesla Model Y — a result that should make UK observers take the brand seriously as and when it formally enters the UK market. Second, the Geely EX2's NZ$22,990 pricing shows how aggressively Geely can land a basic BEV when it chooses to; that pricing discipline will eventually bear on UK-market variants even if specific UK prices are set differently. Third, the Geely Group's H1 2026 financials show a group in solid shape: growing revenue, improving margins, and an export business that is more profitable than its domestic one. None of this is a guarantee — currency moves, tariff changes and competition from BYD all remain real variables — but the brand health picture is materially stronger than sceptics suggested two years ago.

One note of caution: all prices in this article are in New Zealand dollars. Do not convert directly to pounds as a purchasing guide — UK-market pricing is set independently and reflects RHD conversion costs, import duties and local market positioning. Treat NZ pricing as a directional signal, nothing more.