5 May 2016, Hangzhou, China. In a world’s first, the Emgrand GS was unveiled in a virtual reality press conference yesterday evening. Over 16 million viewers tuned in across five major platforms to witness the Emgrand GS officially enter into the marketplace.
The Emgrand GS is an urban crossover SUV, the first of its kind from Geely Auto.The Emgrand GS is the second SUV in Geely’s Pivot to SUV strategy that first saw the Bo Yue SUV launched on March 26th 2016. The GS was first premiered at the 2016 Beijing Auto Show on April 25th where the car was unveiled in two forms; an Elegance model and a Sports model.
The Emgrand GS follows in the footsteps of the great Geely vehicles that came before it; the best selling Geely GC9 and Bo Yue SUV and of course the legendary New Emgrand which itself has over 900,000 global consumers.
The same design elements that first appeared on the GC9 and Bo Yue have transitioned into the Emgrand GS, the ripples on the famed West Lake have made it into the GS’s grill and the bridges over West Lake were the inspiration for the arching dashboard that goes across the center of the car and into the door panels.
A full moon roof turns the Emgrand GS’s cabin into a light, airy and space conscious interior, passengers will be able to benefit from better views around the vehicle. To keep passengers fully connected, Geely has installed multiple connectivity systems on the GS including Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto systems which are connected via Geely’s self developed G-Netlink which allows music, videos, radio and television to be played via the generously sized 8 inch screen in the center of the Emgrand GS’s console.
18 inch alloy wheels were used to give the Emgrand GS a sure-footed stance on the roads, making the GS ready for whatever the urban environment can bring at it, a choice of eight vibrant colors ranging from bright orange to sports blue have been introduced to give consumers a greater choice.
Daylight running lights were chosen for the Emgrand GS to give the GS a strong presence both during the day and at the night, other safety equipment includes an air quality system (AQS) that filters harmful PM 2.5 particles out of the vehicles interior.
Geely’s Urban Safety System has been installed on the Emgrand GS, allowing the vehicle to automatically apply the brakes should the driver get too close to the carahead, at the same time this system also works hand in hand with the Automatic Cruise Control System that will match the vehicle in fronts speed and apply brakes should another vehicle enter in front.
Power for the GS is derived from two Geely powertrains, a 1.8L naturally aspirated engine and also a 1.3T engine. The 1.3T won engine of the year in 2014 and is capable of producing 129bhp and 185Nm of torque through the six-speed Dual Clutch Technology (DCT) gearbox.
To offer an outstanding drive and ride environment, Geely’s R&D facility in Hangzhou carried out over 200 Noise Vibration and Handling (NVH) tests to make sure the vehicle was up to the high expectations of consumers.
Over 16 million people tuned into watch the Emgrand GS’s press conference, which was held in a virtual reality environment, the first time such an environment was used to launch a vehicle. Media, Geely employees, senior members of the company and also Geely fans took their virtual reality glasses to watch the event unfold across the country; fans watched from public spaces such as airports,train stations, restaurants and bars – as well as their own homes. In total, five key media platforms including Youku, XCar, and Tencent were broadcasting the event across the country.
Emgrand GS launch related articles received thousands of comments overnight, with one article on Autohome.com.cn receiving over 6000 comments in a period of several hours.
The Emgrand GS will be available nationwide in the coming days with export markets receiving the vehicle over the course of 2016 and 2017.