What's all this about?

Right as Geely Auto Europe's CEO, Aiden He, concluded his press conference at the Paris Motor Show, where he was ostensibly revealing the company's latest model in the form of the Monjaro EM-i, he then did a full 'oh, and just one more thing' mike-drop to announce this brute. It's the Project KO11 and it's coming to Europe, and the UK too.

Umm... is it just me, or does it look an awful lot like a...

...Defender? Yeah, it does, because that's precisely the kind of classy, top-end 4x4 blurring the lines with an SUV the KO11 is targeting. You know, things such as a Merc G-Wagen or a Toyota Land Cruiser; we'll come back to that latter rival in a moment or two, for a reason that'll become shiningly obvious.

Anyhow, Geely says Project KO11 is a 'new-generation, high-performance, all-terrain SUV with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain', and further adds that it is 'extremely powerful and fast'. Now, precisely how powerful and fast it might be remains to be seen, but as the company's existing product line-up consists of the EX2, EX5 and Starray EM-i, notwithstanding the incoming Monjaro that was revealed in Paris immediately before the KO11, then 262hp from the Starray is all the mooted flagship has to beat.

That said, one problem for the KO11 is the existence of the Denza Bao 5, which does pretty much exactly the same 'Chinese off-roader to challenge the established elite' job the Geely is supposed to do, only it's already on sale. Mind, in its native China, there's a version of the KO11 which has (and these are not typos) 1,128hp and 1,330Nm. Which seems like overkill, considering none of the above make more than 600hp these days (the Defender Octa has been neutered by EU7 emissions regs and the Bao 5 makes do with a piffling 544hp). But we digress. And we haven't addressed its likely name yet.

Oh, I sense something good is coming here.

Yes. Well. In China, the Geely Project KO11, as we know it now, is sold as the Galaxy Cruiser 700. Told you we needed to reference the Toyota 4x4 again; the Japanese manufacturer would no doubt be delighted if Geely goes with its homeland title for the KO11. Anyway, an on-sale date, more specification details and its official name, whatever it may turn out to be, will all be announced at a later date, following on from the machine's surprise unveiling at the French motor show.

Matt Robinson - 12 Oct 2026