Geely’s VP of global design: “China speed is an old story now”

At Geely’s Global Design Centre in Gothenburg, Car Design News met with Stefan Sielaff to take the temperature on a fast-moving brand portfolio. With Zeekr hitting the five-year mark, talk quickly turns to what comes next – and let’s just say the direction of travel is more upmarket.

Of course, Sielaff spent just under six years as design director at Bentley, so he knows a thing or two about designing with luxury at the forefront.

And there’s plenty on the table at Geely – shifting customer expectations and how quickly China speed has gone from headline to becoming the new normal. Sielaff offers a candid view into the challenges ahead – without giving too much away, of course. 

It’s worth rewinding to when CDN last caught up with Sielaff, the industry was grappling with this increase in speed of development and Zeekr was beginning to be perceived as a luxury brand. 

So, where do things stand now? 

Car Design News: Last time we spoke, you illustrated the rise of China speed and the importance of human centric design. How relevant are these topics in 2026? 

Stefan Sielaff: China speed is an old story now. In the beginning it was a surprise how quickly the design idea transforms into production, which is quite satisfying for a designer to see things happen fast. Now, it’s common practice.

In terms of human centric design, in China the demands of customers are different to Europe. [A customer from China] is interacting much more with the software in the car and this software is being updated as frequently as an iPhone, which doesn’t happen in European cars. The biggest disadvantage of the European producer is that they can’t deliver the software expectations of the customer. 

The biggest issue is heritage, which is something you either have, or you don’t – you can’t buy it

CDN: With Zeekr turning five years old, how will the brand develop? 

SS: Our focus this year is on the transformation of Zeekr into a luxury brand. This is something that was not clear from the beginning as Zeekr started five years ago with a different target market – but this is very typical of the Chinese. They find out we have achieved a target and then the demands of the customer and developments in the car industry have changed and therefore the target is moved.

We are starting to now manifest Zeekr as a luxury brand in China, but I wouldn’t say it will be so easy in Europe. The biggest issue is heritage, which is something you either have, or you don’t – you can’t buy it. This is something that plays a big role in Europe for customers as the prestige and image of the brand is important, with price not mattering as much. 

Establishing luxury in China with a high level of quality is something that can be done as there aren’t so many key players in the Chinese market. There’s also this national pride in China and an unwillingness to buy overpriced European products. The Zeekr 9X is performing much more successfully than assumed in the Chinese market, and hopefully the luxury 8X will attract a wider range of Chinese customers.

Sustainability is a fashionable word, and in my opinion, it only makes sense when you implement it into the whole value chain

CDN: How will this effect Geely’s other brands? 

SS: This obviously has an effect on Lynk & Co; we have a target this year to move it up market to a more premium level, but we have to work a bit harder for this as it’s a quite a long-established brand now at 10 years old. When Lynk & Co began, it sold quite successfully in China but now the question is – what is the next step regarding the customer group? Are we moving away from the young people in the club seeing the next dawn? I think the brand is due to become more mature, therefore the brand and design philosophy needs to change. The transformation of the brand has to happen quickly, but you’ve also got to be careful to balance the brand that’s been built up after 10 years and where you want to bring it next. 

As for Geely, particularly with Geely Galaxy, it is satisfying a different type of customer. Nevertheless, the design and quality of these cars is very good. We’re aiming to move into the premium segment with Geely. 

CDN: What will this look like design-wise? 

SS: I believe in cooking the classic recipe, so when you want to do a shift to luxury you have to carry this through the whole portfolio. 

CDN: With this shift, I’m presuming perceived quality is playing a big part? 

SS: Whatever you do, especially in luxury, must work together with the top level of perceived quality. The capability of the Chinese producer is very good but we are also trying to introduce European suppliers like Swarovski and Bridge of Weir to our Chinese stakeholder.

CDN: When talking about materials and suppliers, sustainability also comes to mind. How do you see sustainability adding value to your brand? 

SS: Sustainability is a fashionable word, and in my opinion, it only makes sense when you implement it into the whole value chain. If you make the interior materials 100% sustainable, it makes up only three or four percent of the overall sustainability impact. There’s much more to do, so we look at the production chain, what happens in the factory, the supplier and so on – things where design can’t be an influence. 

It doesn’t mean because the percentage of sustainability impact is so low in design, we shouldn’t do it at all. But it also must make sense. It’s not an easy recipe. If you don’t do leather and do textile instead, but once you’ve added UV and chemical resistance you’ve upgraded these textiles with so many chemicals that it is not so sustainable anymore.

The question of whether leather is sustainable has turned into a philosophical question. In the process of maturing the leather from the skin of the animal you need a lot of resources – nowadays you use biological materials instead of chemicals, which is good. 

CDN: And what are your thoughts on AI within the design process? 

SS: AI definitely plays a role. It’s incredible. I experiment quite a lot with it, but so far, it’s only generated variations of the same theme. It’s not having this divine moment where you can’t tell the difference between what has been created by a human and what has been created by AI, not yet. ‘Yet’ is the word. 

Maybe I’m old fashioned by I still believe that this kind of divine moment can’t be created by AI, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day it does. As we know, AI is only using the available input and can create variations of this. It’s like Mozart – when he started to create his style, he was then afterwards doing variations of his own style. Or Picasso, especially when painters had different phases where they reinvented themselves. The interesting question is: will AI be able to reinvent itself and create something unique that has never been done before?