Photo: Farizon
Geely does not want to dominate only car markets. The owner of Volvo, Polestar, Lotus, Smart, LEVC (London Electric Vehicle Company), ZEEKR, Radar, and Geely (of course) also created Farizon. The commercial vehicle brand is dedicated to new energy vehicles (NEVs), as China calls everything powered by something other than fuel. Farizon has an autonomous version of the Homtruck and the SuperVAN, its ticket to international markets.
The Homtruck was presented in December 2021. It is a semi-truck that can have a battery pack, fuel cells, swappable battery packs, or a range extender. Farizon decided it could also have a Cabless derivative with Level 4 capabilities. Unlike other companies promising autonomous vehicles, the Chinese commercial vehicle company will restrict the Homtruck Cabless to “closed environment operation on fixed routes.” Farizon names ports and logistics hubs. In the future, it may expand these operational environments.
As interesting as that seems, the most crucial product presented by the Chinese brand is the SuperVAN. It will have a wide variety of hats over the platform it introduces. The Geely Multi-purpose Architecture (GMA) is defined as an “intelligent dual-redundancy drive-by-wire modular commercial vehicle architecture.” Although Farizon states it is the first of its kind, Canoo already sells a steer-by-wire MPV. We suspect the SuperVAN will be similar to that concept.
More than its capacity to offer multiple bodies for different applications, the SuperVAN’s most important goal is taking Farizon to new markets. By 2024, the company plans to sell the new electric commercial vehicle in “Europe, Australasia, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Middle East.” That’s when mass production starts. In the second half of 2023, small quantities of the SuperVAN will be tested in China.
The plan is not only to export the new Farizon. That will be only the first step. As more clients start demanding more significant quantities of these brand’s vehicles, Geely said it would establish “localized R&D centers, knocked-down (KD) factories, and operational branches.”
As interesting as that seems, the most crucial product presented by the Chinese brand is the SuperVAN. It will have a wide variety of hats over the platform it introduces. The Geely Multi-purpose Architecture (GMA) is defined as an “intelligent dual-redundancy drive-by-wire modular commercial vehicle architecture.” Although Farizon states it is the first of its kind, Canoo already sells a steer-by-wire MPV. We suspect the SuperVAN will be similar to that concept.
More than its capacity to offer multiple bodies for different applications, the SuperVAN’s most important goal is taking Farizon to new markets. By 2024, the company plans to sell the new electric commercial vehicle in “Europe, Australasia, Southeast Asia, South America, and the Middle East.” That’s when mass production starts. In the second half of 2023, small quantities of the SuperVAN will be tested in China.
The plan is not only to export the new Farizon. That will be only the first step. As more clients start demanding more significant quantities of these brand’s vehicles, Geely said it would establish “localized R&D centers, knocked-down (KD) factories, and operational branches.”
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