Geely starts domestic manufacturing in September with EX5 and EX2 on schedule

Geely has a date to stop being a brand only of imported products in Brazil: national production begins in September this year, at the Ayrton Senna Complex, in São José dos Pinhais (PR). The operation is carried out by Renault Geely do Brasil, a joint venture that will use Renault’s lines to manufacture two models in sequence.

The first to leave the line will be the EX5 EM-i hybrid SUV, in September. Then, in the last quarter of 2026, the 100% electric hatch EX2 enters, currently the brand’s best-selling model and the 3rd best-selling electric car in the country. The schedule was confirmed by Ariel Montenegro, president and general director of Renault Geely do Brasil, in an interview with the newspaper Valor Econômico.

The two cars share the GEA (Global Intelligent Electric Architecture) platform, the same one that will serve as the basis for future Renault models. The EX2 will be assembled at the CVU (Curitiba Utility Vehicles) unit, within the Paraná complex, which received about R$ 3.8 billion in investments. The hatch will start under the CKD regime — imported disassembled from China and reassembled in Paraná — before a gradual transition to local parts.

The race to nationalize has an explanation: manufacturing in the country shields the models from the recent increase in the import tax on electrified products and reduces exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, it allows for more efficient inventory management and less dependence on transcontinental logistics by ship — thelgo that already limited Geely’s sales in Brazil at the beginning of the year, due to unexpected success.

The national EX2 should still arrive renewed: according to the Autos Segredos website, which caught a nationalized unit in tests, the hatch will gain a new bumper, full-LED headlights, multimedia center with Android Auto and native wireless Apple CarPlay and a larger battery, 47 kWh, compared to the current 39.4 kWh.