Geely Starray Review 2026

Geely's second model to arrive in the UK is a plug-in hybrid family SUV that seems to be incredible value, undercutting some rivals by £10,000. Based on our experiences with the closely related Geely EX5, we are expecting a few compromises to offset that price difference. Until we've tested it, here's everything you need to know in out our full Geely Starray preview. 

Geely is known better in the UK for the other brands in its portfolio rather than its own label cars. Those additional marques include Volvo and Polestar, as well as the famed sports car manufacturer Lotus. Its first eponymous model arrived in autumn 2025 in the guise of the EX5 electric SUV, forming the basis of the follow-up Geely Starray EM-i.

That last bit of the name has nothing to do with the record company that Johnny Rotten formerly ranted about, instead standing for E-Motive intelligence. While that isn't terribly descriptive, it's Geely's way of saying this is a plug-in hybrid, or PHEV for short. 

It has a very long list of well-established family SUV rivals that the Starray wil find itself up against, including the Kia Sportage, the Hyundai Tucson and the Nissan Qashqai among many others.

Equally new competition to the Geely is also expected from its compatriots in the shapes of the BYD Sealion 5 and the Chery Tiggo 7.

At 4740mm long, it's slightly bigger than most of its rivals, barring the BYD, but not quite as large as models from the next size up. Think Volkswagen Tiguan rather than the Tayron, in other words. 

You can only specify the Geely Starray as a plug-in hybrid, although there are set to be two battery sizes to pick from. The bigger one has an impressive electric-only range and both are reasonably powerful, with the same 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine at the core of each setup. 

The name is a curious one, apparently being derived from 'starry'. We wish Geely had used the name the car bears in China, which is Galaxy Starship 7. Seriously, look it up if you don't believe us. It's silly, but better than Starray. Mind you, Ford's trademark lawyers would have had something to say about it. 

The Starray's exterior proportions look awfully similar to those of the EX5, but go inside, and the family link becomes stronger yet with a cabin which appears all but identical. That's good in some ways because the EX5 has a clean cabin design which feels nicely upmarket, but less positive in others, particularly when it comes to the annoyingly, overly-complicated on-board tech found in that car. 

Geely Starray EM-i: Range and charging times

The only electric driving range figure so far announced for the Geely Starray 'up to 84 miles', which presumably refers to the Ultra model with its bigger battery. That's considerably better than either of the Starray's aforementioned Chinese rivals, but not massively far ahead of the VW Tiguan eHybrid despite the Geely having a considerably larger battery capacity.

For the Starray EM-i Pro and Max it's an 18.4kWh unit, which is already larger than many PHEVs, but the Ultra ups the ante considerably with a 29.8kWh battery. That's one of the biggest plug-in hybrid battery packs available and larger than what was fitted to the earlies versions of the electric-only Nissan Leaf.

Plugged into a 7.4kW AC home wallbox it should be around 2 hours 30 minutes to charge the smaller battery version and just over 4 hours for the bigger one. The larger version has 'increased charging capacity' which can be utilised at public charging stations, although it's currently unclear what this amounts to.

All versions of the Geely Starray EM-i use a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine which joins forces with an electric motor. 

This setup is able to operate in three different ways. Either the electric motor powers the car on its own and uses up the available battery charge, the motor powers the wheels while the engine tops the battery up, or both power sources drive the front wheels together. 

Performance statistics for the UK market have yet to be published but Australian versions produce 218PS and 262Nm of torque, allowing them to dispatch the 0-62mph acceleration benchmark in 8.0 seconds. 

The Geely Starray has been awarded the full five-star rating by Euro NCAP. Breaking down into the individual categories, it scored 90% for adult occupant protection, 87% for child occupants, 86% for vulnerable road users and 77% for its safety assistance systems.

The Geely Starray has a movable boot floor that leaves you with 428 litres in its highest position and 528 litres at its lowest. That's nothing particularly special — the Hyundai Tucson PHEV provides 558 litres of space despite being a shorter car.

Fold the Starray's rear seats over and the total available space grows to 2065 litres.  

Although we will reserve judgement until we have tested the Geely Starray, we expect it to feel much like the EX5 inside. That's to say, with some decent quality materials that feel quite upmarket, especially for the price, but with a few less-good aspects to the build quality.

In the Geely EX5, there are a few bits of trim that don't line up as well as they should, with naff fake stitching on other pieces. 

The Geely Starray features a 15.4-inch touchscreen to access its infotainment system which we expect is the same unit as found in the EX5. That's a bit of a problem because in that car it's overly complicated and has to be used for myriad functions owing to a general lack of physical buttons and switches.

The lane-keeping assistance and speed limit warning, for instance, require no less than four taps of the screen to turn off. 

There is a rotary controller on the centre console which you might think is a BMW i-Drive-style affair for navigating the on-screen menus, but it's actually just a volume control by default. It can be switched to operate other features but the selection is limited — one of them is for changing the screen's wallpaper, which is frankly odd. 

One thing we do know that won't be the same is the smartphone connectivity. While the EX5 initially only had Apple CarPlay, with Android Auto set to be added at a later date, the Starray gets both from the off. 

A starting price of £29,990 for the Geely Starray EM-i Pro might not sound so impressive when you can get the cheapest Hyundai Tucson for £33,105, but you won't be getting the plug-in hybrid version for that.

Checking the Tucson's price list confirms the cheapest PHEV version is £39,410, making the Starray £10k, give or take, cheaper in its entry-level trim. For a further comparison, note that the least expensive VW Tiguan eHybrid costs £43,680.  

It's then £32,690 for the Starray EM-i Max and £34,990 for the range-topping Ultra version.

The Starray isn't the only SUV of this size majoring on value, with two other options that also come from China featuring plug-in hybrid setups and very similar price tags. It's £29,995 for both the Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid and the BYD Sealion 5 DM-i. Mind you, the Starray has bigger batteries and therefore superior electric  driving ranges to both of those.

There's no longer a discount for VED car tax discount for low-emission cars so it will cost you the same for the Geely Starray as a regular petrol or diesel-engined car, currently priced at £195 per year. You won't have to worry about the Expensive Vehicle Supplement as all versions of the Starray are priced well below the £40,000 threshold. 

It should cost around £5.09 to charge a Starray with the smaller battery and about £8.25 for the Ultra with its bigger pack. If you're able to get on a variable-rate electricity tariff and charge the car during cheaper off-peak periods, it'll be a fraction of that. 

The Geely's warranty is impressive, lasting eight years or 125,000 miles, whichever comes first.