Arriving alongside the Aion UT is the Aion V, a Tesla Model Y and Skoda Enyaq-rivalling electric SUV revealed at last year’s Paris motor show.
It gets a 224bhp motor and a 90kWh LFP battery, giving a range of 324 miles.
In addition to EVs, GAC intends to launch a range of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and “in some cases” pure-ICE cars.
The cars will be sold in the UK through a new joint-venture between GAC and Jameel Motors.
Jameel also retails Farizon electric vans through a separate tie-up with Geely.
Q&A: Thomas Schemera, chief operating officer, GAC Motor
What sets GAC apart from its rivals?
“First and foremost, our premium quality. This is nothing outstanding, because every customer expects premium quality, but we have run joint ventures with Toyota and Honda and we learned the ropes from the beginning. If you take a walk through our facilities – especially for Aion [models] – and have a look at our production, we really know how lean production works. Quality is not just a word: we take it very seriously from a customer perspective.”
What are your expectations for GAC’s European launch?
“If you enter a marketplace and your brand awareness is low, you have to build brand awareness. The second step is to interact with customers – walking through this valley of tears, so to speak. You have to invest and you have to be absolutely aware that you cannot make money from the very beginning: this is impossible.”
Why headquarter your design operations in Milan specifically?
“I’m a big fan of globalisation. It’s very, very important from a Chinese perspective to understand globalisation, to want to know what our consumer benefits from across the world, and we have a lot of diversity. Not everything that works in China can be shifted across to another market, and that has to be very clearly understood – and vice versa.”