ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (Focus Pakistan) – Chinese automotive giant Geely has officially entered Pakistan through a partnership with Bestway Group, unveiling three vehicles and announcing plans to begin local assembly in Karachi within months, in a move that could intensify competition in the country's emerging electric vehicle market.
The launch introduces two fully electric vehicles and a range-extended SUV, giving Pakistani motorists new alternatives to conventional petrol-powered cars. But the bigger development lies beyond the showroom: Bestway wants to establish a domestic manufacturing operation rather than rely solely on imported vehicles.
In July, Bestway told local media that Geely would arrive in the third quarter of 2026. The quarter closed on Sept 30 without a launch, and the company later moved its booking target to the end of the year.
Geely EX2, EX5 and Starray: What Pakistan Gets
The three models give Bestway an entry into different segments of Pakistan’s new-energy vehicle market.
The EX2, a compact electric hatchback, sells in China as the Xingyuan. Geely’s own 2025 numbers for the Xingyuan are hard to argue with: more than 40,000 sold every month, seven months running. The company says no passenger car in China outsold it last year. Export versions carry a 39.4 kWh battery. Bestway has not confirmed Pakistan specifications.
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The EX5, a fully electric SUV, had crossed 210,000 sales worldwide by October 2025, Geely says, just 15 months after going on sale in August 2024. Euro NCAP gave it five stars. So did ANCAP in Australia.
The third model targets motorists who want electric driving without relying entirely on charging stations. Bestway’s launch statement identifies it as the Starray EM-R, although other reports call it the EM-i.
Geely itself arrives at full speed. Last year it shifted 3.02 million vehicles across the world, 39 percent more than in 2024.
“Pakistan is our first market in South Asia, and we see significant potential here,” said Evin Ye, a vice president of GAIC who runs Geely Auto’s ASEAN business.
Port Qasim Plant Sets Up Local Assembly
Bestway Automotive, Geely’s sole authorised distributor, will handle sales and after-sales service. It has also bought Al-Haj Automotive’s assembly plant at Port Qasim in Karachi, the site where Al-Haj built Proton cars, and is preparing it for Geely production.
“Our aim is to have locally assembled Geely vehicles on Pakistan’s roads within the next few months,” said Irfan Sheikh, Bestway’s group managing director for non-banking businesses.
The plant gives Bestway a running start, but it joins an industry with plenty of idle capacity. Plant utilisation across the sector has slipped below 50 percent in recent periods, The Express Tribune reported in September, citing industry data.
Geely vs BYD in Pakistan’s EV Race
Sheikh’s promise also sets up a direct contest with BYD. The Chinese rival has teamed up with Mega Motor Company, a Hub Power subsidiary, on its own assembly plant near Karachi.
The battle is no longer a niche affair. Pakistan brought in more than ten times as many Chinese electric and plug-in hybrid cars in the first half of 2026 as a year earlier, according to customs figures that the state news agency APP cited in August.
Shehryar Qadir, senior vice chairman of the parts makers’ body PAAPAM, told Nikkei Asia that Chinese brands hold about one in five passenger cars sold in Pakistan. For decades Toyota, Suzuki and Honda had the market more or less to themselves. The government wants electric vehicles to account for 30 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030.
For Bestway, cars open a new front in a long relationship with the country. Group chief executive Haider Choudrey said the group had invested more than $350 million in Pakistan over the past three years and created more than 20,000 jobs.
“With Bestway Automotive, we are extending this commitment to the automotive sector,” he said.
Choudrey promised local manufacturing, skills training and a stronger parts supply chain. He did not put a number on the Karachi spend. He did not say how many parts Bestway plans to source at home, either.
That matters. Pakistan has seen plenty of car brands open with a big party and then struggle: spare parts run short, workshops can’t cope, resale prices sink. Geely has the global numbers. It now needs a price that makes sense in Pakistan.
