Geely marks the global launch of the hybrid version of Monjaro, with a convincing Guinness World Record in the Sahara.
All those who have heard of the legendary Sahara desert needn’t be familiar with it in black and white—literally! The Black Desert and the White Desert are two stunningly contrasting natural wonders in Egypt’s Western Sahara. The drive from Cairo could take you four to five hours but you may not be keen to make it, with the prospects of ground temperatures reaching 70º Celsius.
El Sahara El Aswad. The Black Desert. The landscape is reminiscent of the way it came into existence, millions of years ago. Volcano shaped mounds and mountains capped with black basalt and volcanic stones on a canvas of golden-brown sand.
Sahara El Beyda. The White Desert.
A shimmering white landscape that on closer look reveals surreal, wind-sculpted chalk and limestone formations in the shape of mushrooms, tents and animals. Origins suggest an ancient sea that left behind calcium carbonate deposits eighty million years ago.
In short beautiful, majestic, formidable—just the kind of place where a car named after a mountain peak would want to carve its signature on the pages of the Guinness Book. The task: take on the challenging terrain and make quick work of the crossing.
On the 16th of September, as global media gathered around the new Monjaro EM-i at the Product Capability & Core Tech Deep Dive event organized in Cairo, Geely Auto revealed that the vehicle claimed a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the “fastest crossing of the Black and White Desert by a plug-in hybrid powered production SUV”. The crossing marked a continuous route of 188.6 km, demonstrating its capabilities in the extreme conditions of the scorching desert.
The Crossing
During its journey from the dark volcanic landscape to the chalk-white terrain, airborne dust and unpredictable levels of traction taunted the vehicle’s performance all through. Moreover, the desert had its own characteristic challenges thrown at the Monjaro EM-i – testing five significant capabilities to the limit as an off-roader. Extreme handling and stability, climbing steep slopes one after the other, cross-axle recovery, ride comfort in rough terrain and acceleration at a low state of charge (the Monjaro EM-i being a hybrid).
Monjaro EM-i – equipped for the challenge
The new Monjaro EM-i is built on the GEA EVO and GEEA 3.0, Geely’s native new-energy vehicle architecture capable of coordinating the powertrain and e-AWD system, so as to adapt to changing conditions within milliseconds. The Intelligent Electric AWD can split the torque between the front and rear wheels from 100:0 to 50:50 or anything in between. Further, the traction-control technology helps to reduce wheel slip by up to 50%, allowing to maintain traction even during steep climbs!
Monjaro EM-i, versatile and powerful
Making no compromise between power and comfort, the Continuous Damping Control Suspension system of Monjaro can adjust to terrain changes up to 50 times per second, with an impressive response time of 20 milliseconds. The EM-i Super Hybrid system is made up of 1.5L Turbo engine with an electric system that together delivers up to 250 kW power (335 hp) and 667 Nm torque, taking the hybrid Monjaro to 100 kmph in 5.83 seconds
Monjaro with its smooth and fuel-efficient powertrain created a distinguished experience on urban roads and weekend jaunts. The new EM-i will start on a notch higher, with a Guinness attested feat to showcase.
