China's largest private carmaker Geely announces support for Apple's CarPlay

Geely, one of the largest auto manufacturers in China, announced on Thursday that it has inked a deal with Apple to integrate CarPlay into an upcoming compact SUV model, making it the first Chinese automaker to support the infotainment system.

Not much is known about Geely's unnamed SUV, which is scheduled for unveiling later this year, but the country's largest private carmaker made it a point to advertise compatibility with Apple's CarPlay, according to gizchina.

For Geely, CarPlay integration was perhaps an inevitability considering it counts Volvo among its subsidiaries. The Swedish carmaker was one of the first to commit to Apple's solution, though the project's current status is unknown. After showing off a concept in-dash unit shortly after CarPlay debuted last year, Volvo hasn't said much about future availability and has yet to integrated the system into a shipping car.

As for Geely, the company plans to launch its CarPlay-enabled SUV in 2016.

Apple launched CarPlay last March as an iOS-powered answer to generally sub-par OEM in-car entertainment systems. Since its release, CarPlay has slowly made its way into a number of model from major manufacturers including Honda and Chevrolet. Most recently, Volkswagen rolled out CarPlay support for its MIB II infotainment platform in July.