Overview
UNLIKE several other Chinese car manufacturers present in the Australian market, mainstream marque Geely is not experimenting with sedans, sports cars, car-based pick-ups or other niche segments. Instead, it is concentrating limited resources right in the heart of the market.
The push by Geely Australia (GAU), effectively the ‘home brand’ of Geely Automotive Holdings (GAH), started — and continues — in the midsize SUV class with a pair of ‘new energy’ vehicles: one battery electric (the EX5), and now, one plug-in hybrid (the Starray EM-i).
GAU has already flagged plans to expand into the other critical, high-volume segments in the Australian market, being smaller and larger SUVs — plus a ute, which Geely bosses acknowledge must deliver heavy-duty capability.
That said, establishing a core competence in medium SUVs is a smart move. The EX5 BEV and marginally larger Starray PHEV are related, sharing the GEA platform, hard points, and basic suspension design.
To the end of August, GAU has already moved beyond ‘bit player’ status by delivering 2736 EX5s so far this year (chief rival Tesla has moved 13,310 Model Ys in the same timeframe).
The Starray PHEV (from $37,490 plus on-road costs) should fare even better. Bundling a 160kW/262Nm electric motor, medium-sized battery (around 17kWh usable) with a 73kW/125Nm petrol engine, the hybrid can travel a genuine 800km and is capable of being refuelled in minutes.
GAH has poached a wide range of not only engineers, but also stylists from other brands and design houses, and as a result, the Starray benefits from handsome exterior presentation, deftly avoiding the overly narrow look that pervades many cheaper Chinese cars.
Mirroring the EX5 line the Starray range comprises two variants. The (oddly named) base-tier Complete ($37,490 + ORCs) includes 18-inch wheels, faux chrome trim, silver roof rails, LED headlights, artificial leather upholstery and powered six-way driver/four-way passenger seats.
Other standard inclusions at entry level are a 15.4-inch touchscreen, 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster, six-speaker stereo, wireless Apple CarPlay (with Android Auto claimed to be coming Q1 2026), climate control, rear parking sensors, 360-degree camera and front seat heating.
The pricing structure appears to guide customers to the Inspire ($39,990 + ORCs), which lavishes considerable extras for the additional $2500.
These include 19-inch wheels, panoramic sunroof with shade, 16-speaker premium stereo, head-up display, ambient lighting, front seat ventilation, driver’s seat memory, power tailgate, wireless device charger and front parking sensors. That seems like a worthy upgrade.
Cost options are limited to an Ivory White interior for the Inspire (NCO), and five premium paints (each $600), with the cost of the latter waived for orders placed before 30 November 2025.
Those early-bird customers also score a free Type 2 charging cable and a choice of discounted financing or three years/45,000km free servicing.
Maintenance costs over the first five years otherwise amount to $1932, while GAU offers a seven-year warranty on the vehicle and eight years of coverage for the high-voltage components, including the battery—both with unlimited kilometres.
Typically, with PHEVs, combined fuel economy claims are unhelpful due to the way the official numbers come together.
Helpfully, GAU avoids this and prefers to quote 83km (WLTP) electric range from the ~17kWh LFP battery, moving to a combined petrol-electric range of 943km (WLTP) implying the Starray consumes 5.9L/100km of petrol on a ‘dead’ battery. The reality is more complex, as we’ll explain.
Driving impressions
The Starray’s fully-electric sibling, the EX5, has been praised in Australia for affordable pricing (from $40,990 + ORCs) and reasonable amenity but otherwise was met with lukewarm reviews in relation to its driving dynamics—especially with regard to suspension tuning.
The good news is that the very slightly lighter PHEV (1739 vs 1765kg) does show improvement in this regard, with superior body control when compared with an EX5. Unfortunately, that is relative, with the Starray merely improving from ‘poor’ to ‘mediocre’ in this regard.
GAU product executives told media that the Starray’s suspension has indeed been retuned for Australia (and other export markets) compared to the ultra-soft Chinese setup, with local cars adjusted to feel firmer with a stiffer suspension tune. The Chinese ones must be like marshmallow.
In urban areas the strong bias to softness isn’t a problem, and we imagine the Starray will test-drive well in these environments as it eats up potholes well (albeit with some suspension boom).
The downsides of the Starray’s ill-disciplined suspension become evident at higher speeds on Australian country roads, where undulations and bumps expose a tune that is clearly underdamped, causing the Geely to pogo down the road unable to quickly contain road shocks.
We wouldn’t call it dangerous (and indeed it is not quite as bad as a Mitsubishi Outlander or pre-retune Mazda CX-60 in this regard), but with GAH also owning great-driving brands like Lotus and Polestar, we would expect this to be fixed in a running change.
If Lotus engineers are lending an ear, maybe they can also have some input on the steering—which is ultimately inoffensive but simply ‘meh’ in both a total lack of feel and broad dead-spot on centre. At least the Starray is shod in quality, noticeably grippy Goodyear rubber.
While the Starray is in for a pit-stop, the software team ought to redo the safety assistance system tuning. The adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and 360-degree camera were all fine; less so the lane-keep, speed limit warning, and driver monitoring systems.
The latter trio are wildly oversensitive, detecting and overacting to false positives such as lane markings that are not present and non-existent speed limits—but most frustratingly repeatedly telling a fully attentive driver to keep their eyes on the road…which is where they were.
All of this contrasts with the Starray’s plug-in hybrid powertrain which, while nothing ‘special’, is remarkable in how easily it simply gets the job done without requiring any real thinking or interaction from the driver. What a change from overly complicated PHEVs of days gone by!
The Starray isn’t wicked-fast like some PHEVs, which is fine. Output is normally 160kW in electric or (series) hybrid drive modes, but it can briefly spike to 193kW if the driver selects the (parallel hybrid) ‘Power’ setting. The latter does cause front wheelspin; AWD is not available.
Key to the way the Starray always feels peppy, even if the battery appears to be discharged, is smart coding of the EM-i hybrid control and battery management system. The bottom 20 per cent of the battery is always kept in reserve to feed the motor effectively the full 160kW.
To keep the battery topped up to at least 20 per cent on long trips, the 1.5-litre non-turbo ‘four runs primarily as a generator, but it is believed that in ‘Power’ mode it can clutch directly to the front wheels.
The downside of this mandatory ‘reserve’ battery element is that the claimed electric driving range does not appear to be available. We managed 67km on the accessible 80 per cent of the battery. If 100 per cent had been available…this equates to Geely’s claim of 83km (WLTP).
This quirk aside, the clear upside is that the Starray’s systems cleverly mean electrical assistance is virtually always at hand, making for prompt acceleration (if with some throttle lag from a stop) and frugality.
As a result, our real-world highway fuel economy (5.9L/100km) was as Geely claimed, though our urban efficiency (7.0L/100km) is a bit higher than what you’d see in a (non-plug-in) Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.
Various aspects of the Starray’s dynamics can be adjusted, including the level of regenerative braking (we favoured the moderate setting, which allowed a comfortable 20kW of regeneration off-throttle), and the steering weight—though neither made the tiller particularly interactive.
Refinement was impressive, with little road or wind noise entering the cabin. The exception is the petrol engine, which has little noise insulation. If the Starray is charged or under light load, it is not noticeable but long hills on the highway cause the engine to rev in a loud, vibey manner.
Otherwise, serenity in the cabin is decent for such an affordable car. Cosmetically, the Starray’s interior follows the established Chinese formula of covering upper surfaces and seats in a slushy and soft vinyl material, constituting a veneer of premium-ness.
But in the Geely’s case, it’s a convincing veneer, given the $40K Starray Inspire is thousands of dollars cheaper than base models of some rivals which tend to serve up harsh, rental car-spec plastics instead.
The technology package, too, feels generic but effective, pairing an easy-to-navigate 15-inch touchscreen to a slim driver’s panel with all key information displayed. Wireless CarPlay worked consistently for us while always keeping a climate control panel accessible.
Front seat comfort in the Starray is fine for adults but nothing more given a lack of under-thigh angle and lumbar adjustments, though the seat cooling of the Inspire grade is much appreciated in warmer weather.
More impressive is the generous rear bench, which is in fact more comfortable than the front pews thanks to superior shaping. Headroom and legroom were both sufficient for six-footers while air vents and even soft-moulded door plastics continue to row two.
Behind the Inspire’s power tailgate is a 528-litre boot which is reasonably spacious for the class. The cargo area itself is decked out in sturdy rather than flimsy materials, though no spare wheel/tyre is available.
If this test appears to damn the Starray with faint praise, that was not the intention. Instead, we’re impressed at how competently this Geely redefines the affordable end of midsize SUV motoring in Australia.
The Starray EM-i feels like the future of ‘cheap’ vehicles—an efficient but not fancy PHEV system and a pleasant but not luxe interior. At $40K, that is sufficient.
What is less than adequate is the fine-tuning of the Geely’s suspension, steering and safety system tuning, all of which require a rework. Several manufacturers have been able to engineer affordable cars that are also good to drive, not just bearable; we think Geely can, too.
