A SMALLER CHINESE TAKEAWAY (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Chinese maker Geely enters the supermini EV segment with this EX2. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 64

Geely's EX2 offers yet another option for someone in search of a budget EV hatch, with value as its over-riding trump card - though perhaps not quite as much value as we'd hoped. Still, though one of the less charismatic class options, it's spacious, well-equipped and smartly-finished. So there's lots you might be tempted by here, but you'll need to know what you're getting.

Backgroundword count: 135

So what might the best-selling car in China be like? This Geely EX2 will tell us. This supermini-shaped EV sold an impressive 460,000 units in its home Oriental market in 2025 and the brand has high hopes for success with it in Europe - and Britain in particular. It has a rather less snappy model name in China - the Geome Xingyuan; and a simpler one in Europe - the E2. But either way, the recipe is the same - a value-based rear-driven small electric hatch aimed at the heart of the budget EV segment. Whose success will be pivotal if Geely is to reach its goal of selling 100,000 cars a year in the UK market by 2030 - by which time the EX2 will be one of ten models in the Geely line-up.

Driving Experienceword count: 321

A rear-driven format is still a little unusual for a small hatch of this size, despite the way that the VW Group and MG have championed it. Yet that's what this EX2 has - a side benefit of which is a London taxi-like 9.9-metre turning circle around town. There are two battery sizes, but almost all EX2 customers will ignore the base 35kWh 'Pro' version - rightly because it has a feeble 80bhp motor and takes you just 155 miles between charges. Focus instead on the 'Max' and 'Ultra' models, which use a 47kWh battery that energises a 114bhp motor and takes you up to 214 miles between charges. You might have been hoping for a little more in terms of drive range - and that would be understandable. After all, if you're prepared to sacrifice a bit of cabin space, the money needed for a bigger-battery EX2 would get you, say, a Renault 5 which with its larger battery pack can go up to 252 miles on a charge. Pay a bit more for something like a Kia EV2 or a VW ID.Polo and you'd be up towards the 280 mile mark. Still, perhaps suburban folk might not be bothered about that too much. And might appreciate the relatively composed way this Geely goes down the road. The ride is quite composed, refinement is good and generally, it feels ike you're driving a more substantial family hatch-class car from the next seghment up - which is many ways you are. You certainly wouldn't want the 80bhp 'Pro' version of this Geely if you weren't urban-based because it feels even slower than the 14.2s 0-62mph stat suggests. The bigger-battery 47kWh model is hardly a ball of fire either - it shares the same modest 150Nm torque figure, so overtakes will need a lot of forward planning. But at least it's better able to keep up with traffic flow, 0-62mph taking 11.5s.

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