Geely registered 993 vehicles in Spain in July 2026, its strongest month since entering the country and the closest the brand has come to breaking the 1,000-unit monthly threshold, according to DGT-sourced registration data compiled by Autonoción. The near-record was driven almost entirely by the Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid SUV, which alone accounted for 907 of those registrations.Geely Automobile Holdings (HKG: 0175) only began selling its main passenger-car brand in Spain this year, part of a rollout across seven European markets completed in roughly 45 days. The brand launched with two SUVs: the E5 electric model and the Starray EM-i plug-in hybrid, both arriving within a 48-hour window in late March, according to Geely's own announcement. Spain was positioned as a priority market for the group's wider European expansion.The cabin's dual-screen dash and ambient lighting are shared with the Galaxy Starship 7, the Starray EM-i's China-market twin (Geely)July's tally of 993 units brought Geely's cumulative Spain total for the first seven months of 2026 to 1,383, with the Starray EM-i responsible for 1,224 of those and the E5 contributing 159, per the same Autonoción breakdown. The gap between July's single-month figure and the year-to-date total shows how recent and how sharp Geely's ramp-up in Spain has been, with growth concentrated almost entirely in the second half of the period. The Starray EM-i's 907 July registrations gave it a 6.25% share of Spain's plug-in hybrid market and made it the top-selling model in the compact C-SUV PHEV segment, according to a report from El Confidencial Digital. Coverage of the milestone diverges on one point: Híbridos y Eléctricos reported the Starray EM-i outsold the BYD Seal U DM-i in July, while Autonoción's full DGT-sourced tally lists the Seal U at 957 units for the month, ahead of the Starray's 907. Both figures point to the same underlying story: after four months on sale, the Starray EM-i has become one of the most in-demand plug-in hybrids in Spain, competing directly with BYD's top sellers.The wider picture shows Geely still catching up to more established Chinese-linked brands in Spain. Chinese and China-linked manufacturers together took a record 16.65% of Spain's new-car market in July, equal to 16,974 units out of 101,949 total registrations, and have sold 110,257 vehicles in the country since January, a 14.71% share of the year-to-date market. BYD led the group with 3,899 units in July, followed by MG at 3,688 and the Chery-linked Omoda and Jaecoo brands with a combined 3,355. Geely sat further down the list alongside Leapmotor, Changan, Xpeng and Lynk & Co, each of which also cleared 250 monthly units, but none of those rivals matched Geely's proximity to the 1,000-unit mark in July. Pricing has been central to the Starray EM-i's early traction. The SUV starts at €25,215 with Plan Auto+ incentives and financing discounts applied, spread across three trims: PRO, PRO+ and MAX+. Every version comes with Geely's Care+ package, covering the vehicle and battery for eight years or 200,000 km, three years of roadside assistance and two years of free 4G connectivity. That undercuts the BYD Seal U DM-i, whose official Spanish pricing from BYD España starts at €31,990 with incentives applied and runs up to €45,500 without them, by several thousand euros depending on trim.On specification, the Starray EM-i pairs a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine producing 100 hp with a 218-hp electric motor for a combined 262 hp, and offers two battery options rated at 83 km (18.4 kWh) or 136 km (29.8 kWh) of WLTP electric range. Combined with the gasoline engine, total range reaches up to 1,055 km (656 miles). Both batteries support DC fast charging from 30% to 80% in around 16 minutes, and the SUV measures 4.74 m in length on a 2.755 m wheelbase, with a 528-litre boot that expands to 2,065 litres. In China, the model is sold domestically as the Galaxy Starship 7 EM-i, with the 2026 update priced from 97,800 to 130,800 CNY (c. $14,500 to $19,400) and offering a longer CLTC-rated electric range of up to 200 km on the top trim, roughly 64 km more than the version sold in Spain. The domestic car retains the same 1.5-litre engine and dimensions as the Spanish-market Starray EM-i but pairs them with an upgraded 175 kW electric motor.Geely's Spain push also relies on rapidly building out its dealer network. The brand operates 50 points of sale in the country as of August 2026 and plans to expand to 80 before year-end, according to El Confidencial Digital, including two flagship showrooms with interactive digital displays, a format Geely has not yet deployed in any other European market. Dealer groups including Gamboa in Madrid, M Automoción in Barcelona, Concesur in Seville and Marcos in Valencia have taken on the brand as part of that rollout. A third model is due to widen Geely's Spain lineup further. The E2 electric hatchback, described by Geely as the world's best-selling electric car in China for 2025 with 459,960 domestic units sold, goes on sale in Spain on September 9 starting at €13,990 during an early-reservation period, rising to €14,490 once that window closes, according to Autonoción. The E2 will be built at the Valencia plant Geely is developing through its joint venture with Ford, positioning it to compete directly with the BYD Dolphin Surf and Dacia Spring in Spain's budget EV segment.Pro+ and Max+ trims pair a 47 kWh battery with up to 345 km of WLTP combined range (Geely)The July result also fits into a stronger year for Geely's parent group globally. Geely Automobile Group sold 1.42 million vehicles worldwide in the first half of 2026, with overseas sales reaching 474,228 units, up 158% year-on-year, and June marked the first month overseas sales alone topped 100,000 units, according to Geely's own H1 report.With the E2 arriving next month and the dealer network set to grow by 60% before year-end, whether Geely can push past 1,000 monthly sales in Spain may simply be a matter of which month the numbers land on the right side of that line.Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.7500 CNY as of August 6, 2026.