Geely Automobile's new Galaxy sub-brand promises to sell seven units in two years.

Chinese auto giant Zhejiang Geely on Thursday unveiled Geely Galaxy, a sub-brand of its popular Geely brand of cars.

At a launch event in Hangzhou, China, Geely unveiled two Geely Galaxy-branded vehicles, one a sleek sedan concept and the other a plug-in hybrid SUV that will go on sale in China in the second quarter of 2023. No mention was made of sales in other markets.

According to Geely Automobile, the Galaxy will have seven different models in its lineup within two years, four of which will be plug-in hybrids and the rest will be electric vehicles. The first model is the L7 plug-in hybrid SUV, unveiled Thursday. It will be followed by the L6 plug-in hybrid sedan in the third quarter. The first Galaxy EV, dubbed the E8, will go on sale in China in Q4.

Geely did not say what body style the E8 will have, but the Galaxy Light electric sedan concept shown at Thursday's launch event may hint at the design of Galaxy's production EV.

Geely said some of Galaxy's plug-in hybrids will use versions of the CMA platform that underpins the same Geely-branded Volvo and Link vehicles, including the Volvo XC40 and Link 01 crossover. Galaxy will also have a platform dedicated to some plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Codenamed NordThor 8848, Galaxy's combustion engine for plug-in hybrid vehicles is said to have a thermal efficiency of 44.3% and a predictive energy management system that can improve fuel economy by up to 15%. mpg. 40% thermal efficiency is considered very high.

Geely Automobile did not reveal what platform the Galaxy EV will use, but said the EV will be the first to use the new Aegis battery safety system. The system is designed to protect the battery from impact in a crash, as well as to predict and prevent overheating and other similar situations, which Geely Automobile said could extend battery life by 20%.

Geely Automobile also said that the Galaxy cars will run a proprietary operating system known as the Galaxy N-OS. Not only is this operating system much faster than competing systems, requiring only 0.5 seconds from starting the vehicle until it is ready for use, but it also has access to Zhejiang Geely's satellite and cloud network, so driver assistance functions can benefit from centimeter-accurate positioning and high-precision mapping benefits.