Geely confirms next gen 2022 Geely Boyue, to use Volvo XC40’s CMA platform

First launched in China in 2016, the Geely Boyue, which is better known to Malaysians as the Proton X70, is now in the fifth year of its model life.

A replacement is due soon, at least for China. During a presentation to Geely investors in November, Geely Automobile Holdings Limited shared that it will be announcing at least 4 new models in 2021, among them the second generation Geely Boyue that’s based on the new CMA platform.

When will the second generation Geely Boyue be launched?

Considering that Geely’s announcement is under the context of ‘preliminary new products,’ keyword preliminary, we don’t expect the all-new second generation Geely Boyue to be launched until 2022.

So far, the Chinese media have little information regarding the second generation Boyue. In fact, this is the first nugget of information regarding the new Boyue. Ironically, it came from Geely itself.

When will the second generation Proton X70 be launched?

The current generation Proton X70 only began production in Malaysia at the Tanjung Malim plant in late-2019, before launching in February 2020, shortly before MCO/CMCO wreaked havoc on the company’s projections.

We expect the current Proton X70 to remain in production for at least 5 more years, which also means that we will be skipping the new generation Geely Boyue and instead go straight to the facelift version, probably by around 2025.

What is CMA platform?

The current Geely Boyue, which Malaysians will know as the Proton X70, is built on Geely’s own proprietary NL platform, which has since been superseded by the newer generation BMA and CMA platforms.

The BMA platform is used by the Proton X50. The more expensive CMA (Compact Modular Architecture) platform is used by the Volvo XC40 and Polestar 2.

In other words, the next Geely Boyue will be first Proton that you can genuinely say is a Volvo underneath.

The CMA platform essentially a simpler version of the SPA (Scalable Platform Architecture) platform used by the Volvo 60- and 90-series cars – XC90, S90, XC60, and S60.

The biggest difference between CMA and SPA platforms is that CMA cars cannot accommodate an electric motor to drive the rear axle, or ERAD (Electric Rear Axle Drive) in Volvo’s term. However, it can still do normal mechanically driven all-wheel drive.   

The new generation 2022 Geely Boyue will most certainly drop the current (and ageing) 1.8-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder in favour of the newer, cleaner, and more fuel efficient 1.5-litre three-cylinder unit used by the Proton X50. In fact, export variants of the Proton X70 are already fitted with the smaller 1.5-litre engine.

The new generation Boyue will certainly be offered as either a mild hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Stricter Chinese emissions standards could also mean that only hybrid versions will be sold in China, while pure combustion engine versions will only be used by less developed overseas markets like Malaysia.

A higher level of semi-autonomous driving capability is also to be expected. Geely is a big proponent in driverless cars and car sharing services. The current Proton X70 lacks adaptive cruise control and semi-automatic parking capabilities, which the newer CMA platform-based cars can do.