Some news from up north – Geely Thonburi, the distributor for Geely vehicles in Thailand, has announced plans to sell the new Galaxy Starship 7 in the Land of Smiles, according to Headlight Magazine. This confirms that the plug-in hybrid SUV will be offered as a global model, converted to right-hand drive.
The news is not surprising, given that the car is basically the hybrid version of the all-electric EX5, sold here as the Proton eMas 7. As such, we can expect the Starship 7 to make its way here, too – something we’ve expected for a while, as we’ve already reported on Proton trademarking the eMas 7 PHEV name.
What is surprising is that Geely Thonburi is planning CKD local assembly for the Starship 7 in Thailand – which means the EX5 will probably be built there eventually as well. That’s despite Geely telling us that Proton would remain the production hub for the ASEAN market, having already reneged on its promise (admittedly from nearly a decade ago) to make the national carmaker its right-hand drive hub and its pledge to not enter this region.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Proton brand and its manufacturing capacity will be limited to the Malaysian market and a handful of small export markets. Either that or the company will have to compete with Geely in larger markets, offering the same models but without the same marketing might or the same economies of scale to lower prices – something that is already being played out in South Africa.
Anyway, more about the car, which is powered by Geely’s EM-i plug-in hybrid powertrain. This consists of a 111 PS/136 Nm 1.5 litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine and a 218 PS/262 Nm electric motor integrated into the electrified dedicated hybrid transmission (E-DHT). The car is able to get from zero to 100 km/h in 7.5 seconds and, with the largest 19.09 kWh Aegis short blade lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, has a pure electric range of 120 km on China’s lenient CLTC cycle. Total range is 1,420 km.
GALLERY: Geely Galaxy Starship 7 at Auto Shanghai 2025
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You all actually believe these people will set up hub here?
Potong oh potong. Too naive
Asean production hub deal was agreed with Najib BN Gomen then. Now Msia is under new ownership so Geely has no more obligation to PH Gomen.
Want to blame someone for this loss, blame PH voters.
Want this deal to come back as it is valid only with BN, you voters know what to do.
We rather not to have this hub then. Thank you.
You are obviously a dumb!
might as well say ” Thai girls give better services”
Geely will treat Tanjong Malim as a ‘glorified showroom”..not export major export hub.Just export a few thousand units to third world countries..to pacify DRB,whose spoilt vendors refused to lower supply parts by 30%.
I wont be surprised few more years when DRB keep bleeding,BERCHERAI wont surprise anyone.
Change government = agreement can be change ? dumb
Nothing to do with BN. It has to do with excess baggage DRB- HICoM, a crony BN company, that is holding Geely back.
Other china brands does not have this useless partner with huge overhead
I can guarantee as other china brands cut their prices to proton level, the madani gomen will increase the tariffs on other brands. Let’s hope this does not happen.
I saw some funny candy as* who wana put politics in this saying who’s gov get this terms and which gov to blame bla bla bla… TOLONGlah.. diam diam if dono anything…
basically tis is sole business! Agreement if only based on understanding and hearsay, its not agreement… its cakap kosong. If there’s really black and white agreement, then take it out to sue GEELY then
The problem in proton is more than just such stuff… maybe there’s intention to get proton to be asean hub but those management (particularly HICOM) ppl must be acting like they are taiko and bla bla bla… as for the Geely ppl(chinese) ppl usually dont wanna wait and dont wanna stay behind waiting, they want everything to be done quick and fast. Not sitting there minum teh tarik, sembang kosong. That’s why they cant wait no more and proceed.
Those who put blame solely on geely also please use ur mind la.. what proton done? they are on the verge of collapse… then come geely to bring them up to where they are now… NONE of the existing valueble and more advance car are from hicom(original) R&D, its all geely cars! be grateful and speed up the mind and marketing, not just hanging there smiling counting the profit u gain and blaming other who helps!
https://paultan.org/2020/01/30/geely-asks-proton-to-expand-into-southeast-asia-initial-focus-on-thailand-indonesia-and-singapore/
5 years ago already Geely ask Proton to expand… Now 5 years later how many cars Proton sell in Thailand and Indonesia? You think Geely will wait forever for Proton to enter the market and let BYD sell their cars in Thailand and Indonesia? Since Proton no action then Geely have to take action themselves. Want to blame, then blame Proton No Action Talk Only.
This is exactly the real reason! Sendiri suka tunggu dan lembab dan thirst of profit tapi blame orang tak tunggu dia!
Politics and our “wait & relax culture” aside. We have too much internal hindrance & obstacles. Local suppliers whining and not competitive enough, whilst the suppliers from China are used to be hungry for business. 24*7 ready for business. Probably the suppliers in Thailand are china-man owned and the local suppliers are strong and competitive enough to scale up and low down the cost
Geely as always give false promises. If they can lie about this, then they can lie about other thing else.
AFTA non tariff rate between south east asian countries – gone and forgotten.
Nothing to do with BN. It has to do with excess baggage DRB- HICoM, a crony BN company, that is holding Geely back.
Other china brands does not have this useless partner with huge overhead
I can guarantee as other china brands cut their prices to proton level, the madani gomen will increase the tariffs on other brands. Let’s hope this does not happen.
Basically Proton don’t have the capitol to built and cater for entire ASEAN. Geely has.
Those who commented on Geely not keeping promise might want to dig out the truth. Proton is still as corrupted as before. The work force wasn’t up to par and when Geely trying to correct their working attitude, the whole Proton factory at Proton City Tanjung Malim go on strike. From top to bottom all cease working. Imagine if you invest in a company and have to deal with all these nonsense, would you invest further here or you will go somewhere where you can have full control over the company?? I think we all know how our good friend work here in Proton if you bring your car to service at their service center not to mention if you have parts to replaced for your Proton car. That is a complete nightmare. All and all, please know what really went on inside Proton before putting the blame on Geely.
In automotive industry, it is a competition of not only auto brand company but it’s also a competition of auto brand supply chain. Whoever is more efficient and profitable, then the auto brand will survive. Now we can see, Chery brand is doing CKD in Malaysia and the price is cheaper than Proton. Proton is using Geely based model with an amount of local fab parts. Is local made parts causing proton to need higher selling price?.. I m not surprised if this is the case. Proton supply chain is clearly not competitive. They lack volume is one factor.anithrt factor.. u guess..
Keep buying China Potong
Hub or not hub, not important, what matter is sell at competitive price, so that buyer can afford.