Dialogue with Lynk & Co’s Zhou Ning: Lynk & Co wants to break out of homogenization
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Author | Zhou Zhiyu
Station wagons are losing their sense of rarity.
In the past, station wagons, shooting brakes, rugged off-road vehicles, and performance cars inherently carried unique labels. They were not the largest segment in China's auto market, but had enough distinctiveness and helped brands break away from the red ocean of mainstream sedans and SUVs.
But new energy vehicles have rewritten this logic.
As price wars, feature wars, and intelligent driving wars become crowded in the mainstream market, car companies have collectively turned towards more niche segments. NIO ET5T, Denza Z9GT, Zeekr 007GT, and Xingjie S9T have pushed station wagons and shooting brakes into the new energy narrative; meanwhile, brands like Fangchengbao, Tank, and Mengshi have turned rugged off-roading into a new battlefield for plug-in hybrids and electric drive technology.
Niche categories are starting to replicate the crowding of the mainstream market.
This is also the dilemma Link & Co faces in its “broadening” strategy. It needs to enter more segments to handle the transition to new energy and drive sales growth; but if it merely follows the market to fill out its product line, the brand may be swallowed up by homogenization.
On June 30th, Zhou Ting, Executive Deputy General Manager of Lynk & Co Sales Company, addressed this issue as “homogenization” during a conversation with Wallstreetcn.
“China's new energy sector is slowly entering increasingly serious homogenization. How can we offer more personalized and exciting products to stand out in the new energy field?” said Zhou Ting.
The Lynk & Co 07 GT was a move made in response to this issue. For Lynk & Co, station wagons are an experiment. The real problem is, after nearly two years of broadening, as Lynk & Co’s product line becomes wider and the segments more numerous, can sportiness and individuality remain its most stable identifier?
Niche Tracks Are Getting Crowded
The 07 GT is not a product of Lynk & Co chasing the station wagon trend on impulse.
Zhou Ting stated that Lynk & Co is a global brand, and the 07 GT's design was jointly created by a China-Europe design team, while station wagons are already very mature and large-scale in overseas markets. Thus, from the start of development, this car was aimed at being a global vehicle, and is expected to launch formally overseas in the first half of next year.
In other words, the 07 GT is not just adding a station wagon for the domestic market, but is part of Lynk & Co’s global product lineup.
But the domestic market it faces is no longer the niche station wagon market of a few years ago.
A few years ago, station wagons in China depended more on European car culture, the “wagon complex,” and the imagination of upscale imported cars. Users discussed stance, aesthetics, and sentiment, while car companies faced a small but clearly defined market. Making a station wagon was already special enough.
In recent years, the logic of this market has changed.
Station wagons are being repackaged: they can be high-end pure electric, luxury plug-in hybrids, tied to smart cockpits and advanced intelligent driving, or serve long-distance self-driving, family travel, and performance expression. The boundaries of the segment have opened up, and more players have entered.
This isn’t entirely good news for Lynk & Co.
If the 07 GT had come out years earlier, it might only have needed to answer “Lynk & Co finally made a station wagon.” Today, it faces a harder question: since many car brands can make station wagons, what makes Lynk & Co’s different?
The Lynk & Co 07 GT comes equipped with the EM-P intelligent hybrid system, with a maximum combined range of 1422km, and is among the few station wagons in its class fitted with MRC magnetorheological suspension. According to Lynk & Co’s plan, the 07 GT will enter rally races in the third quarter of this year.
The pre-sale pricing puts the 07 GT in the mainstream new energy competition band of 160,000-200,000 RMB; plug-in hybrid and 1422km combined range solve the station wagon’s long-distance usage scenarios; magnetorheological suspension and rally racing bring it back to Lynk & Co’s desired sporty narrative rather than “a sedan with a larger trunk.”
The limited-time edition 07 GT sold out within 3 minutes of pre-order opening; Zhou Ting said this feedback shows the pre-sale price meets user expectations.
Lynk & Co doesn’t want to make the 07 GT an ordinary station wagon.
The Lynk & Co project team mentioned in communications that the 07 GT chose the plug-in hybrid route because station wagons inherently face complex scenarios like long-distance, high-speed, self-driving, continuous mountain roads. In prolonged high-speed cruising, pure electric and range extender models have higher energy consumption; on remote self-driving routes, users don’t want to turn the trip into “checking in at charging stations.”
Behind this explanation is Lynk & Co’s rethinking of “station wagon”: it’s not just a body type, but a usage scenario.
More crucially, Lynk & Co didn’t simply make the 07 GT a larger sedan, but emphasized handling. The R&D team noted the 07 GT’s magnetorheological suspension, through multiple rounds of tuning, maximized the difference between comfort, standard, and sport driving modes; meanwhile, integration of steering, body rigidity, chassis strength and suspension support achieved a yaw rate lag time of 28 milliseconds.
All this technical data points to one issue: Lynk & Co wants the 07 GT to simultaneously belong in both “station wagon” and “sport” segments.
Station wagons are no longer rare; Lynk & Co can’t rely on body style alone to stand out. They have to reconnect the station wagon to their brand DNA. Otherwise, the 07 GT is just another new car on a crowded track.
Broadening Must Not Become Spreading Thin
Lynk & Co’s keyword the past two years has been “broaden.”
Zhou Ting said, under the “One Geely” strategy, Lynk & Co shoulders the mission of broadening development. From the GT concept car unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show, to the Z10 EV, and now the 07 GT, Lynk & Co is making a comprehensive switch to new energy from mainly gasoline, while also expanding its product line and launching a series of new niche products.
This statement contains both opportunity and risk for Lynk & Co.
The opportunity is that they can no longer stick to the product structure of the gasoline era. As new energy penetration quickly increases, the original brand personality will become mere history if new products don’t carry it forward.
The risk is that broadening can easily become spreading thin.
Lynk & Co’s transformation has reached a stage where redefining the brand is necessary. Data as of July 1, 2026 first half, Lynk & Co sales were 144,200 units, of which 93,600 were new energy vehicles, accounting for 65%; June sales reached 19,100 units, with new energy accounting for 81%. This means Lynk & Co’s “broadening” is not supplementing the product line of the gasoline era, but reconfirming its position within the Geely group as new energy becomes the mainstay.
This step isn’t easy.
For Chinese car companies today, entering more segments is no longer the hardest part. The maturity of platforms, three-electric systems, intelligence, and supply chains means launching new product categories is much faster. Previously, product category insights needed years of accumulation, now a new energy brand can break through with just one or two cars.
But the more products, the more scattered the brand becomes.
If Lynk & Co simply adds station wagons, electric sedans, plug-in hybrid SUVs one by one, it will end up as a brand with more products but weaker character. This is a risk all “broadening” brands face: they appear to cover more ground, but their recognition gets diluted.
Zhou Ting gave a boundary line. He said Lynk & Co will not fully focus on absolute sales volume as the core goal.
“In the past every brand wanted mass-market models, which usually focus on value for money and large volumes.” Zhou said, if every brand in the group does this, it leads to high overlap, redundant technical investment, similar product planning, and internal friction.
This is the real contradiction in Lynk & Co's broadening strategy.
Lynk & Co needs more products to carry sales and its new energy transition, but it can’t solve the problem by just expanding its product line. Broadening isn’t simply entering more markets, but repeatedly proving in those markets why these cars belong to Lynk & Co.
This answer was pointed at sportiness by Zhou Ting.
When speaking about rally racing, Zhou mentioned Lynk & Co has mainly participated in TCR circuit racing the past few years, winning 9 championships in 7 years. Next, they hope to try entering China Rally Championship with new energy vehicles, using the 07 GT as the debut model, and aim to eventually represent China in the World Rally Championship.
This is not just a simple marketing move.
Zhou said circuit races mainly test acceleration, handling and chassis, while rally races face more complex road conditions and are a more comprehensive test of vehicle safety and quality systems. For the 07 GT, rally racing is a real-world validation ground for the sporty station wagon.
This line is crucial. Without racing and handling, the 07 GT is just another station wagon after Lynk & Co broadened; with rally racing and sporty tuning, it becomes a car used to prove the brand direction.
In other words, the 07 GT is not just a branch of Lynk & Co’s broadening, but an attempt to use “sportiness” to gather the wider product line back together.
Lynk & Co can’t broaden for the sake of broadening. It needs a stable identifier so that pure electric, plug-in hybrid, station wagon, and SUV don’t each tell their own stories.
A More Distinct Lynk & Co
The biggest change at Geely in the past few years is not just gaining several new energy brands, but a shift from expansion to integration. After the 2024 Taizhou Declaration, Geely began emphasizing reducing redundant investment, improving operational efficiency, and clarifying brand positioning. Subsequently, Zeekr and Lynk & Co’s equity structure adjustments, Galaxy’s integration with Geometry, all pointed towards: Geely moving from multi-brand parallelism to stronger group synergy.
This is the background of “One Geely.”
But group synergy isn't about making all brands operate the same way. In fact, the stronger the synergy, the clearer the brand boundaries must be.
The latest sales data makes this clearer. In the first half of 2026, Galaxy sold 519,800 units (over 100,000 units in June alone), taking on the scale task for the mainstream new energy market; Zeekr delivered 178,400 units in the first half, up 97% year-on-year, continuing to penetrate the high-end luxury segment; Lynk & Co stood at 144,200 units, with 65% being new energy, pushing to broaden further.
All three brands are growing, but their missions are not the same.
Galaxy has to secure the larger mainstream new energy base. Its price range, product cadence, and user coverage mean it’s closer to Geely new energy's volume base. Zeekr takes on the task of going premium, with higher average prices, stronger technical labels, and a luxury product matrix to raise Geely’s brand ceiling.
If Lynk & Co only pursues scale, it easily overlaps with Galaxy; if it tries to raise prices, it gets closer to Zeekr’s narrative. It must find a less easily replaceable position.
Zhou mentioned that after group consolidation, each brand has its own mission. Of course Lynk & Co hopes for higher sales, but will not sacrifice absolute sales to make pure value-for-money products—at least not now.
This statement weighs more in the Geely system.
“One Geely” is about solving not just resource efficiency but also brand role allocation. The bigger the group, the easier it is to have similar products, price bands, and user groups. Without boundaries in synergy, it becomes new overlap.
Lynk & Co must prove its irreplaceability within the group.
The 07 GT’s debut of magnetorheological suspension technology, and subsequent rally-testing, are ways to reinforce Lynk & Co’s sporty tag. Geely isn’t equally dividing technical assets among its brands, but instead wants different assets to serve different brand mindsets.
For Lynk & Co, sportiness isn’t just packaging—it’s their way of striving for irreplaceability within Geely.
Lynk & Co’s challenge lies in this.
Words like sporty, youthful, and personalized sound easy but are hard to execute. They can’t be established by just a launch event, a station wagon, or a single rally race. Especially as new energy cars enter homogenization, many brands start to talk about individuality, lifestyle, and culture.
When everyone talks about being different, being truly different is harder.
Therefore, the sales of the 07 GT is important, but its bigger value is testing whether Lynk & Co can maintain a unified direction after broadening. Station wagons, pure electric sedans, plug-in hybrid SUVs—these can all be Lynk & Co products, but cannot each tell their own story.
“One Geely” doesn’t need a Lynk & Co that does everything, but one with clearer boundaries.
In this sense, breaking out of homogenization depends not on a wider product line, but on still being recognizable at a glance after broadening.
The 07 GT is just a sample pushed to the forefront. Next, Lynk & Co must replicate this logic to more new energy products: design must remain recognizable, powertrain must serve authentic use cases, handling and racing can’t stop at marketing, and overseas markets must verify this sporty station wagon narrative.
This will be a longer verification cycle than simply launching a new car.Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market involves risks, and investments should be made cautiously. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account the particular investment goals, financial circumstances, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article fit their specific situation. Investments based on this are at your own risk. ```