What a comeback: The Geely E5 EM-I proves just how far they’ve come
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Geely entered South Africa in 2007, but they were gone by 2009. I have a personal story about those old Geely’s that probably tells you why. My brother-in-law owned an old Geely CK 1.3 GT. On a short trip from Vereeniging to Johannesburg, I noticed him pull over to the side of the road. Naturally, I turned around and went to see what was wrong. Well, it was just a flat tyre, but it was odd. It almost looked like something was cutting through the wheel instead of a nail going into the tyre. We changed it, but the car wasn’t in good shape. For starters, the spare wheel was also slightly flat and the front fender was hanging off slightly and not protecting the tyre. But we’re not panelbeaters, so we just left the fender to hang and attempted to drive the vehicle to the nearest garage to fill some air into the flat tyre. Back on the road for about two minutes and I noticed my brother-in-law and that red Geely stationary on the yellow line yet again. I couldn’t believe that something else would be wrong, but the new tyre had met the same fate as its predecessor. It was cut and looked exactly like the previous tyre. The only thing that made sense was that the fender which was hanging was cutting through the tyre when he was driving, even if it was at 20km/hour. We ended up waiting for a flatbed for two hours and just carting the vehicle home, but the experience left a slightly sour taste in my mouth for Geely. South Africans don’t fall for gimmicks. Whether cheap or expensive, they want bang for their buck and Geely just wasn’t that. It’s why their first stint didn’t last longer than two years. But in November 2025, they made an extremely strong comeback releasing two models: the E5 EM-I and the E5, with the former being a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and the latter being a full electric vehicle. I had the E5 EM-I on test for a week and this car felt like a good old-fashioned Manchester United comeback. In fact, the gap in quality between what Geely produced 20 years ago to what