New ‘mobility firm’ Lynk & Co – don’t call it a carmaker, it’s all about the lifestyle – has revealed that all of the cars it sells in Europe, including right-hand-drive UK models, will be built at its production facility in Ghent, Belgium.
Production has already started on the firm’s new range of SUVs at its Zhangjiakou plant in northern China, but those models will go on sale in China from mid-2018. Production starts in Europe in late-2019 before deliveries are set to commence in early 2020.
The company unveiled its new 02 SUV for the first time in China at the Beijing motor show, but also used the opportunity to reveal its hybrid powertrains that will be available when the car goes on sale in Europe in 2020.
The carmaker says that all of its cars in Europe will offer some form of electrification, and that it doesn’t intend to offer any manual or diesel options.
The Drive-E electrified setups will be borrowed from sister company Volvo, enabling the plug-in hybrid version of the 01 SUV to travel up to 30 miles on a charge with a petrol engine as backup.
Lynk senior vice president Alain Visser said: ‘When we commence production in 2019, and sales starting from 2020, in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels and London, our range will be all about new energy. From these hubs in key cities we will also launch our pop-up stores, reaching 95 percent of Europe’s urban population with a formidable, efficient and connected range of products based on industry leading technologies such as Drive-E and more.’
Lynk & Co is keen to point out that it isn’t merely planning to sell cars, it’s also introducing innovative new packages along similar lines to the Care by Volvo scheme, where users can pay a monthly rate that includes the car, insurance and servicing.
Lynk aims to attract young people to its scheme who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford more traditional forms of car purchase. The scheme will allow customers to enjoy rental periods as short as a month and change their car to another model up to four times in a 12-month period.
It’s also aiming to be more than a carmaker – it has just launched a fashion range in China in collaboration with local designer JINNNN and will spend the next two years before the European launch of its cars just being cool.
