New Geely 4x4 coming to the UK to take on the Land Rover Defender

Auto Express has learned the Chinese goliath Geely is on track to launch a rugged 4x4 to rival the legendary Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser later this year, and it will be coming to the UK.

Geely unveiled the square-jawed Galaxy Cruiser concept last spring at the 2025 Shanghai Motor Show. And now Flavien Dachet - head of the brand’s design studio and the man who led the project - told Auto Express the show car you see here is 90 to 95 per cent representative of the as-yet-unnamed production model that’s expected to be revealed in the first half of this year. While pricing details for Geely's new model are yet to be confirmed, buyers in the market for a new off-roader can find a wide range of new and used Land Rover Defender deals through the Auto Express Buy A Car service.

To our eyes, the Galaxy Cruiser could pass as the Defender’s long-lost twin brother. The design bears a very close resemblance to the British icon, with hints of the Ford Bronco Sport in places too.

Dachet acknowledged, “There was, of course, some inspiration [from iconic 4x4s]. But if you look at classic off-roaders, they always follow the same recipe. 

“Whether you’re looking at the Defender, G-wagon, Bronco, the classics, the codes are the same. So it's a matter of how we interpret it in a way that is recognisable.”

Dachet also points out no Chinese car brand has any off-road heritage of its own to draw from, so “they always look up to some of those international icons, to learn from them and generate their own, and add their own take on it”. 

With the Galaxy Cruiser, the designers wanted something that “looks muscular, but without being too aggressive. It looks tough, but it doesn't look like it would be dangerous to your family. It was about finding the right compromise between something that is reassuring, and also looks powerful”. 

One unique design element are the 3D daytime running lights that give the car its angry expression and put a twist on the round headlamps seen on iconic 4x4s like (you guessed it) the Defender. Dachet says these were influenced by the dancing dragons in Chinese culture. However, we’re told these will be toned down for the production model, which won’t be quite as wide as the concept either.

Meanwhile, the Geely’s interior will be more comfortable and premium-feeling than the “quite simple” cabin of the Defender, the design boss promised us.

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Technical details remain under wraps for now, but we were told that the Galaxy Cruiser and the production version are based on the GEA Evo platform used by the Geely Galaxy M9 luxury SUV. The company apparently has had to push this architecture to its limits to give the 4x4 the off-road capabilities customers expect, “raising the ground clearance as much as we could, getting the biggest wheels we could”.  

Prototypes are being tested in deserts in China, and Dachet tells us he has pictures of them jumping in the dunes, where they’ve exceeded expectations when it comes to handling difficult terrain. The concept supposedly had a wading depth of 800mm, which isn’t far off the 900mm the equivalent Defender 110 can reach, and the road-going version should match that too.

The production version of the Galaxy Cruiser will be Geely’s first foray into the world of 4x4s, but potentially not the only one. Dachet tells us, “It’s opening doors to potentially more products that could be launched in the off-road space, so it’s the first of hopefully many more to come.”

Geely is already exploring some ideas for other off-road models, but whether or not they move forward will depend on the reaction to the production Galaxy Cruiser. “This may be the start of something very cool,” Dachet hints. “If the response is positive, we have a lot more coming. So it really will depend on how the public responds to it.”

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