The Preface, known as the Xing Rui (“Future Star”) in China, bested the two other finalists, the BYD Han and Hongqi H9 to win the award. 

The Geely Preface runs on the CMA platform shared with Volvo and Polestar. It also marks the company’s entry into their so-called Geely 4.0 era where connectivity, intelligence, and safety take centerstage.

The highly advanced CMA architecture, for instance, allows the Preface to offer FOTA or Firmware Over the Air updates. An industry-first in internal combustion engine cars, this allows the Preface to be constantly improved with incremental updates which can tweak things such as vehicle power, driving dynamics, assisted driving features, and more.

The Preface begun sales in China last month, and they have confirmed plans to export it as well to global markets in the near future.

Other award recipients are: Lincoln Aviator which won for China SUV of the Year (beating the Mazda CX-30 and Land Rover Defender), the Polestar 2 which won China Green Car of the Year (beating the Xiopeng P7 and Wuling Hongguang MINI EV), and the Maserati MC20 as the China Performance Car of the Year (beating the Ferrari Roma and Mercedes-Benz AMG A 45 S. The China Design Car of the Year award went to the Land Rover Defender, beating out the Mazda CX-30 and Maserati MC20.

The annual awards known as the “most authoritative annual car award in China,” has a jury made up of 41 automotive journalists.