2026 Geely Starray EM-i AWD: All-Wheel Drive Plug-In Hybrid From $44,990, and What the Second Motor Costs You

Image credit: Geely Australia. Starray EM-i shown; Geely's imagery does not single out the AWD.

Geely Australia has added an all-wheel drive grade to the Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid, and it is now live in the company's online configurator. The Inspire AWD is listed at $44,990, with on-road costs added on top, which makes it the dearest of the three Starray grades Geely lists and puts it $3,500 above the front-drive Inspire Extended Range it is based on. Motoring outlets reported the grade in September, with dealer arrivals from mid-September.

On paper this is a real step up, not a badge job. A second electric motor on the rear axle takes almost two seconds out of the 0 to 100km/h time, a bigger fuel tank lifts combined range past 1,000km, and all-wheel drive opens the car up to buyers on gravel, wet country roads and snow runs who would never have looked at a front-drive plug-in. It is also the version where the small print matters most, because the things an all-wheel drive buyer tends to care about, towing above all, are exactly the things Geely has not yet put on paper. Here is what the extra $3,500 buys, what it costs you, and where it sits against the plug-in SUVs already on sale.

Pricing

Geely's configurator currently lists three grades, grouped here by drivetrain. Each price is the vehicle price the configurator shows before it adds on-road costs.

Geely also shows what it calls a Manufacturer's Recommended Drive Away Price once you give it a postcode and a registration type. It describes that figure as an estimate that includes the dealer delivery fee, stamp duty, 12 months' registration and 12 months' compulsory third-party insurance, and it says dealers may charge more or less. For the Inspire AWD in the standard Alpine White with a private registration, on 1 October 2026 it showed:

The five optional paint colours are $600 each on the configurator, and only Alpine White is included. Budget for that if you are pricing a blue or green car.

One change to the range worth knowing about: the original Inspire with the smaller 18.4kWh battery, which sat at $39,990, no longer appears in Geely's configurator or in its current specification guide. The guide now simply calls the 29.8kWh car the Inspire, while the configurator still labels it Inspire Extended Range. They are the same car, and it is the one the AWD is built on.

What the Second Motor Buys

The front of the car is unchanged. The 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine (73kW and 125Nm) still mostly works with the 160kW and 262Nm front motor, and the battery is the same 29.8kWh lithium iron phosphate pack as the front-drive Inspire. What Geely adds is a rear motor making 80kW and 150Nm, which its specification guide lists as an asynchronous type, where the front motor is a permanent magnet unit.

The result on Geely's figures is 0 to 100km/h in 6.3 seconds, against 8.2 seconds for the front-drive Inspire and 8 seconds for the lighter Complete. That is a big jump for a family SUV at this price, and it is the difference you will notice every time you merge or overtake. Top speed stays electronically limited to 170km/h across the range.

Geely has not published a combined system output for the AWD. Motoring outlets have reported 220kW and 412Nm combined, but that figure is not in Geely Australia's specification guide, so treat it as reported rather than confirmed. You cannot get to it by adding up the individual motors and the engine, because a hybrid system rarely delivers all of its peaks at once.

Beyond the motor, the AWD gets two extra drive modes, listed in the specification guide as Snow and Off Road (Geely's model page calls the second one Dirt), alongside the existing Pure, Hybrid and Power. The configurator also lists a five-link independent rear suspension among the AWD's features, although the specification guide shows a multi-link rear suspension on all three grades, so it is not clear that the layout differs from the front-drive car. Wheels are the same 19-inch alloys with 235/50 tyres as the front-drive Inspire, and the equipment list otherwise mirrors that car: the head-up display, 16-speaker Flyme Sound system, heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, panoramic sunroof and power tailgate all carry over.

A word on what "off road" means here. Geely's specification guide gives no separate ground clearance for the AWD (it lists 172mm for the Complete and the Inspire), no approach or departure angles for any grade, and no low range or locking differential. Read it as all-wheel drive for traction on loose and slippery surfaces, not as a four-wheel drive.

What It Costs You: Range, Weight and Space

The trade-offs are small, but they are real, and they are all in Geely's own specification guide.

Read the range figures carefully. The AWD's longer combined range is not an efficiency gain. On Geely's own numbers the AWD uses slightly more electricity and slightly more fuel per 100km than the front-drive car. The extra 69km comes from a fuel tank that is nine litres bigger. That is still useful on a long trip, and it is the reason Geely can put a four-digit range on the brochure, but the car itself is a little thirstier.

The weight goes up by 89kg of tare mass, and Geely has lifted the gross vehicle mass by more than that, so the margin between the two (which has to cover fuel, people and luggage) is 552kg on the AWD against 504kg on the front-drive Inspire. With five adults aboard and a full tank that margin goes quickly, so it is worth doing the sum for your own family.

Space is the one to check in person. Geely lists the same 428 litres behind the rear seats, but its "expanded" figure drops by 72 litres and the seats-folded figure by the same amount. Geely does not explain what "expanded" measures, so take a pram or a golf bag to the dealer and see whether the difference matters to you.

The Fuel Figure Depends on the Plug

The 1.7L/100km figure is a WLTP combined result for a plug-in hybrid, and it assumes the car starts the test with a charged battery. That is how every plug-in hybrid is tested, and it is why the numbers look so low. If you charge at home most nights and your daily driving fits inside the electric range, you may go weeks without burning much petrol. If you rarely plug in, the car runs as a regular hybrid carrying a heavy battery and a second motor, and you should expect to use a lot more than 1.7L/100km.

The figure that tells you what the car uses with the battery run down is a charge-sustaining number, and Geely has not published one for the Starray EM-i AWD. That is the number that matters for anyone who does long country runs, because on a 500km trip the battery is empty for most of it. Until Geely publishes it, compare plug-in hybrids on electric range and how often you will realistically charge, not on the headline L/100km.

Charging is the same as the front-drive Inspire: up to 6.6kW on AC and up to 78kW on DC, according to the current specification guide, with 6kW vehicle-to-load for running appliances from the car. A 6.6kW wallbox is the practical way to refill a 29.8kWh battery overnight.

Towing: The Question Geely Has Not Answered

This is the biggest gap in the launch information, and it matters more for the AWD than for any other Starray. A lot of people shopping an all-wheel drive SUV want to pull a camper trailer, a boat or a box trailer. Geely's specification guide lists towing preparation (a harness and control unit) and trailer stability assist as standard, but it does not list a braked or unbraked towing capacity for any Starray EM-i grade, including the AWD.

So we will not guess one. If towing is part of the reason you want all-wheel drive, get the braked towing capacity and the maximum towball download from the dealer in writing, for this exact variant, before you sign. For context, the other all-wheel drive plug-in hybrids in the comparison below carry braked towing figures in our listings, and once you have a number for the Starray you can check a real combination with our TowingSorted planner.

Safety and Warranty

ANCAP rated the Starray EM-i in 2025, and its published record says the rating applies to all variants. That rating was issued before the AWD went on sale here and the record does not name it, and the AWD adds a second motor and 89kg. We hold no ANCAP rating for the AWD specifically. If a rating is important to your decision, which it should be, ask Geely to confirm in writing that the existing rating covers the Inspire AWD.

The active safety list in the specification guide is the same across all three grades, including autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise, lane keeping and lane change assist, blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert and brake, and a driver fatigue alert. The warranty is seven years with unlimited kilometres on the car and eight years with unlimited kilometres on the traction battery, with up to seven years of roadside assist. Geely's footnote says the unlimited kilometres apply to private owners only, so fleet and rideshare buyers should check the terms.

Tax and Novated Leasing

Luxury car tax is not a factor. At $44,990 the Starray AWD sits well under both 2026-27 thresholds: $80,809 for most cars and $91,661 for fuel-efficient ones.

The fringe benefits tax position is the one that catches people out. Plug-in hybrids stopped qualifying for the electric car FBT exemption for cars first held on or after 1 April 2025, so a new novated lease on this car pays FBT in the usual way. A novated lease can still make sense, but it will not carry the saving that a battery-electric car under the threshold gets. This is general information, not tax advice; check the numbers with your lease provider.

How It Stacks Up

The rival Geely is really aiming at is the Jaecoo J7 SHS-P Summit AWD, which we do not list yet. Jaecoo's site advertises it at $47,990 drive-away for MY27 cars ordered by 31 October 2026 and delivered by 30 November 2026, with no metallic paint, at participating dealers, and not for fleet, government or rental buyers. It uses a 150kW and 310Nm front motor and a 113kW and 210Nm rear motor.

This is where the headline prices mislead. The Geely's $44,990 is before on-road costs and the Jaecoo's $47,990 already includes them. On Geely's own drive-away estimates of $48,523 in Sydney and $48,883 in Melbourne, the Starray AWD comes out about $530 to $890 dearer than the Jaecoo's offer price, not $3,000 cheaper. The Jaecoo price is a time-limited offer and may vary by location, so get a written drive-away quote for both. And do not compare their fuel figures directly: Jaecoo quotes 1.9L/100km on the older NEDC test and Geely quotes 1.7L/100km on WLTP.

Among the plug-in hybrids we list on sale, the front-drive BYD Sealion 6 Essential is at $42,990 before on-road costs, $2,000 under the Starray AWD, with 92km of electric range on our figures. Its all-wheel drive versions, including the Sealion 6 Premium Extended Range, are listed with more power (253kW) and 128km of electric range. The Haval H6 Ultra PHEV AWD is the other obvious all-wheel drive plug-in near this money, and we list it with 268kW and a 1,500kg braked towing capacity. Further up, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV ES is listed with 86km of electric range and 1,600kg braked towing, and the Toyota RAV4 XSE PHEV AWD is $63,340 before on-road costs with 144km of electric range. Rival specifications quoted here are the ones we list; compare them side by side below.

What Geely Has Not Told Us Yet

• Towing capacity. No braked or unbraked figure, and no towball download, in the current specification guide.
• Fuel use with a flat battery. No charge-sustaining figure, which is what you use on long trips.
• Combined system output. The 220kW and 412Nm figure in circulation is reported, not in Geely Australia's documents.
• Ground clearance and tracks for the AWD. The guide lists them for the Complete and the Inspire, with no separate AWD figure.
• An ANCAP record that names the AWD. The existing rating predates it.

Who It Suits, and Who It Does Not

The Starray EM-i AWD makes most sense for a buyer who can charge at home, lives somewhere with gravel, wet or icy roads, and wants a quicker, more sure-footed family SUV than the front-drive car without paying Outlander or RAV4 money. The 1,065km combined range is a genuine help on long country drives, even though the gain over the front-drive car comes from the bigger tank rather than better efficiency.

It makes less sense if you mostly drive in town on sealed roads. The front-drive Inspire Extended Range goes slightly further on electricity, uses slightly less fuel, has more cargo space with the seats folded and costs $3,500 less. And if you need to tow, wait until Geely publishes a figure, or buy a rival that already has one. If a novated lease tax saving is the goal, a plug-in hybrid no longer gets it.

We will add the Inspire AWD to the CarSorted directory with its full specification as Geely publishes the missing figures. Until then, the front-drive Extended Range is the car to compare it against.