Renault and Geely have started local assembly of the EX5 EM-i crossover at the Ayrton Senna plant in São José dos Pinhais. This is the first Geely car to be produced in America. At the same time, the partners announced additional investments of 2 billion reais – about 340 million euros.

The main reason for localization is the Brazilian import duty. From July 2026, fully assembled electric vehicles, plug-in and conventional hybrids are subject to a single rate of 35%. Therefore, the EX5 EM-i began to be assembled directly in the country: the imported car no longer bears this additional burden.

At the same time, the price of the EX5 EM-i for buyers does not change. In Brazil, the model costs from 189,990 (about 3.1 million rubles) reais, and the top-end Ultra version costs 234,990 reais (3.85 million rubles). The hybrid system combines a 1.5-liter gasoline engine with 100 hp and an electric motor with 218 hp, providing a total of 262 hp and 380 N·m.

More important than the model itself is the factory technology. The Renault plant was modernized for the Geely GEA platform – Global Intelligent Electric Architecture. Now one production line can produce cars with internal combustion engines, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric powertrains.

Next will be the compact electric Geely EX2: its production will begin in December 2026. And in 2027, a car under the Renault brand will appear on the same architecture. The specific model has not yet been officially named.

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