Our meeting with Chen Zheng, Vice President of Geely Auto Group, took place on the 16th floor of the Torre Diamante, one of the symbols of Porta Nuova, Milan, a district revitalised by the pencils of great architects and today one of the trendiest places in the city. This is where the Chinese manufacturer has opened its Geely Innovation Design Center Italy: \u201cThe strong design culture here gives us the chance to deliver a more inclusive design. I believe that design is the most eloquent interpreter of a brand’s values whatever the field, whether it\u2019s cars or fashion\u201d, Zheng says.\u00a0 Leading Geely design\u2019s global management, he redefined the Geely brand\u2019s design language in the era of intelligent electric vehicles, empowering the brand to accelerate its transformation to intelligence and electrification.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Geely](\"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024050702_Geely_Galaxy_E8.jpg\")
<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Pioneers of a new design paradigm<\/span><\/strong> West Lake, an iconic Chinese landmark<\/strong><\/span> The front is the face of the car<\/strong><\/span>
\nGeely Auto pioneered a new design paradigm in the era of intelligent electric vehicles. Chen Zheng continued: \u201cThe first principle is to honour and embrace a diversity of cultures while never ceasing to innovate, the aim being to pinpoint the brand’s core identity and make it stand out from the competition.. Thinking with the customer’s head and offering him more than he expects: we have to give concrete answers to needs customers didn’t know they had.\u201d All this is seasoned with \u201cGeely speed\u201d, the brand’s strong point earned in a market, the Chinese, that changes at the speed of light<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nThat same speed allowed the designers to create the Geely Galaxy E8, an electric saloon representing Geely’s new design manifesto. The car does not simply add a new model to the lineup: \u201cThe design of the Geely Galaxy E8 tells the story of our brand through a legacy of innovations that are highly symbolic for us,” says Chen Zheng. The model cites the locations where the group took its first steps – the West Lake, for example, an iconic Chinese landmark with humanistic connotations. A lake in the centre of Hangzhou, where Geely’s headquarters remain to this day. It was from the ripples of that body of water that Peter Horbury, a Geely design trailblazer, was inspired to create the first \u201cripples of water\u201d grille.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\nToday, that same grille has evolved into the Geely Galaxy E8\u2019s signature \u201cripples of light\u201d front view: \u201c62% of Chinese customers only focus on a car\u2019s face and it is here that all the emotions of a design have to be expressed. The front view is the face of the car and our brain links it with human beings, animals, robots or in some cases with something expressionless and undefined\u201d, says Zheng.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>