New Geely Galaxy Battleship 4x4 gets ready to challenge Land Rover Defender in 2028

This is our first look at China’s latest challenger to the legendary Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser, and it’s clearly looking for a fight, because the hulking new hybrid 4x4 is called the Geely Galaxy Battleship.  

The Chinese goliath Geely previewed its square-jawed, flagship SUV last year when it unveiled the Galaxy Cruiser concept at the 2025 Shanghai Motor Show, but now the production version is bulking up and being put through cold weather testing near the Arctic Circle in Sweden. 

The images reaffirm what Flavien Dachet – head of Geely’s design studio and the man who led the design of the concept – told Auto Express earlier this year: he said the Shanghai show car is 90 to 95 per cent representative of the roadgoing version that’s expected to be revealed in the first half of this year.

Auto Express has confirmed the Galaxy Battleship will be coming to the UK in 2028, although we don’t yet know if it will wear that not-so-subtle name over here. 

Based on these pictures of the prototype Galaxy Battleship, it could easily pass as the Land Cruiser’s long-lost twin brother due to its very close resemblance to the latest iteration of the iconic 4x4, with its blocky, squared-off shape, tall roofline and wide wheelarches. There are hints of the Ford Bronco and smaller Bronco Sport in there too, plus of course the Defender. 

Dachet acknowledged when he was showing us around the concept: “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, [Mercedes] G-Wagen, 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 pointed out that 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”. 

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With the Galaxy Cruiser concept, 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 such as (you guessed it) the Defender, which you can currently save more than £5,000 on through our Buy A Car service. 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 cabin of the Defender, which the design boss described as “quite simple”. The concept also featured an array of physical switches and a Lamborghini Urus-style ‘control island’ with the huge gear selector lever flanked by separate dials for the drive modes.

Technical details remain under wraps for now, but we were told that the Galaxy Battleship will be based on Geely’s most advanced platform, GEA Evo, which is also used by its Galaxy M9 luxury SUV. That gave the concept cutting-edge technology including steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire, plus four-wheel steering that allows the enormous 4x4 to crab-walk and perform tank turns like the electric G-Wagon.

Geely says the concept also used AI to determine whether its plug-in hybrid powertrain should be in electric, range-extender or hybrid mode, based on the terrain it’s up against. The PHEV system in the M9 uses a small 1.5-litre petrol engine, but it’s paired with three electric motors, which together provide all-wheel drive and 858bhp. If the Galaxy Battleship has the same system, it would be about 200bhp more powerful than the Defender OCTA.

The company apparently has had to push its new 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”.  

As well as in the bitter cold of northern Sweden, prototypes of the Galaxy Battleship 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 (not far off the 900mm the equivalent Defender 110 can reach), and the roadgoing version should match that too.

The Galaxy Battleship – or whatever it’s called over here – will be Geely’s first foray into the world of 4x4s, but potentially not the only one. Dachet told 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 Galaxy Battleship. “This may be the start of something very cool,” Dachet hinted. “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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