Geely has officially launched the Emgrand L in its home market of China. Essentially a heavily facelifted version of the now six-year-old Emgrand GL, it sits somewhere in the middle of the carmaker’s confusing lineup of sedans.

The styling revamp – which follows Geely’s latest Energy Storm design language – incorporates a new front end, which ditches the “waterfall” grille (itself replacing the trademark concentric design in 2020) for a massive mesh-filled opening sitting underneath an upper slit. Together with the revised front bumper contours, this gives the car a sort of X-shaped look.

The headlights are also slimmer and feature LED daytime running light “dashes” on the upper edge, while the vertical vents in the bumper corners house light bars and an illuminated tessellated pattern. The body side remains unchanged, so you can still see the pronounced front fender crease that has been eliminated from newer Geely models.

At the rear, the Emgrand L gets new full-width taillights with a kinked light guide and a three-dimensional effect, along with the centre “Geely” script. The number plate recess has been moved downwards to the bumper, which also gets a chrome strip with L-shaped corners. Finishing off the look are 17-inch five-spoke turbine-style alloy wheels in a machined two-tone finish.

The interior has been given a similarly comprehensive makeover with a new dashboard and door cards, giving the cabin a minimalist air. There’s a full-width air vent design, a freestanding centre touchscreen, laser-engraved dashboard trim, piano-esque toggle switches and a tall centre console with soft kneepads.

The 12.3-inch infotainment display runs on the latest Geely Galaxy OS, which made its debut on the Xingyue L. It runs on ECARX’s E02 eight-core system-on-a-chip (SoC) and features an AI-based voice control system with multiple occupant support, gesture control, over-the-air firmware updates and smartphone remote control support. There’s also an eight-speaker sound system tuned by DTS.

Also fitted is an “intelligent” climate control system with air quality management, plus gesture-operated reading lights and suede seats with heating points that apparently correspond to the body’s acupuncture points. The Emgrand L also comes with a new rear seat reminder to prevent children from being left unattended in the car.

The range of active safety systems available on the Emgrand L is vast and includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, Level 2 semi-autonomous driving capabilities, lane keeping assist, traffic sign recognition and automatic high beam. Six airbags and stability control are also offered.

Despite being a reskinned version of an old car, the Emgrand L is claimed to have switched to the newer B-segment Modular Architecture (BMA) shared with the Proton X50. There’s no new engine to go with it, however, the car soldiering on with a 1.4 litre turbocharged mill making 141 PS at 5,200 rpm and 235 Nm of torque between 1,600 and 4,000 rpm. A CVT comes as standard, the manual option having been dropped.