Geely puts aerial drones to use in remote car sales

In February, Chinese car manufacturer Geely reacted to the coronavirus pandemic by introducing ‘contact-free’ sales of its cars. Today, it improved upon the existing system in a creative way.

Starting from February 10, you could get your Geely vehicle thoroughly disinfected and delivered to your home address on a tow truck. Now, the company additionally sends a quadcopter flying to your home to drop you the key fob.

The Geely Icon SUV, which came out on February, was the carmaker’s first model launched in the midst of the COVID-2019 crisis. To that end, Geely upgraded it with a special anti-bacterial air filter for the cabin, which could reportedly halt 95% of all small particles.

The manufacturer explains that it received an order from a customer who pre-paid his Icon SUV in a showroom prior to the sales start and could not come back there to get his car when it finally arrived due to the quarantine. Thus, the new delivery method was born.

Geely claims it has sold over 10,000 vehicles in this manner, but does not specify whether this means ‘delivery via tow truck’ or ‘key fob via drone’. At any rate, it is reported that 110,000 customers have said they were interested in buying Geely cars.

The company adds that it has already invested 370 million Chinese Yuan into combatting the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.