Brand profile: China’s Aion to arrive in 2024

2 months ago 18

The adjacent question of ambitious Chinese car brands are acceptable to motorboat successful Australia from 2023, joining now-established offerings specified arsenic MG, LDV, GWM, Haval and BYD.

We already person a bully gauge connected plans this twelvemonth from Chery, JAC Motor, and GWM’s Tank and Ora brands, but there’s different OEM with projected Aussie plans that we’ve devoted little clip to.

That marque is Aion, portion of the sprawling Guangzhou Automobile Co, shortened to GAC Group, which is headquartered successful Zhujiang New Town and listed connected some Hong Kong and Shanghai banal exchanges.

As with galore Chinese OEMs, it has focused connected joint-ventures with established marques, successful this lawsuit Japanese ones. Active JVs see GAC Toyota, GAC Honda and GAC Mitsubishi, each made nether license.

But arsenic the Chinese authorities turns ever much to home brands and home consumption, GAC has branched retired – not conscionable with its ain scope of GAC-badged cars developed with what it gleaned from its JV partners, but via different sub-brand.

This sub-brand is Aion, and it’s present that we volition get stuck in.

GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co Ltd was founded connected July 28, 2017 with a absorption connected ‘new energy’ vehicles, with a much premium skew. A chunk has since been taken nationalist to money R&D expenditure.

The institution has been bullish astir its export plans, and similar galore others sees Australia arsenic the perfect aviator marketplace – it’s adjacent to China successful the expansive scheme, highly competitory and fragmented, and yet has a tiny capable standard that nonaccomplishment isn’t specified a disaster.

Based connected our discussions with those moving down the scenes, we expect to spot the archetypal Aion products to participate merchantability successful Australia from the 2nd fractional of 2024, with the marque to travel connected watercourse successful earnest from 2025.

Like Tesla and Polestar, it’s expected to usage a direct-to-consumer income exemplary alternatively than engaging with franchise trader partners. This is an progressively communal attack from clean-slate EV brands.

At the clip of penning GAC Aion advertised 8 models astatine location successful China, lone immoderate of which volition beryllium starters for Australia, successful mill right-hand thrust (something GAC Aion is inactive scaling).

Expected to beryllium archetypal disconnected the people is the youth-focused Aion Y Plus, a 4.5-metre agelong high-riding MPV that deed China successful September 2022. This EV offers claimed scope (on lenient Chinese testing) of betwixt 430km and 610km depending connected artillery choice, with centrifugal outputs of 150kW and 225Nm.

The different conveyance Aion expects to connection astatine oregon adjacent motorboat is simply a new-generation SUV that’ll beryllium a spot bigger than the Y Plus. Aion presently sells the LX Plus and V Plus successful China, and we recognize the Australian exemplary volition beryllium a next-gen successor to both.

Headline acts from a branding position volition beryllium the GAC Aion Hyper GT and Hyper SSR.

The Hyper GT is simply a wild-looking fastback that rivals the Tesla Model 3, offering an incredibly slippery 0.19Cd aerodynamic rating, 250kW powerfulness rating, a 0-100km/h assertion of 4 seconds, butterfly doors, and a 900V architecture. It adjacent has LiDAR.

The institution hopes that an updated mentation of this car, perchance including a dual-motor show model, volition travel successful RHD astir 2025.

Finally, each marque needs a halo merchandise – not 1 designed to merchantability successful large measurement but alternatively to service arsenic large marketing. For GAC Aion, this is the LHD-only Hyper SSR supercar.

The Aion Hyper SSR, which GAC dubs “China’s archetypal supercar”, has been designed to acceptable “a caller benchmark for China’s car industry” successful presumption of some show and manufacturing.

The institution reckons the hi-po EV accelerates from 0-100km/h successful an insane 1.9s successful top-spec guise, oregon 2.3s successful entry-level form.

The e-motor with Porsche-style two-speed transmission pushes retired a claimed 900kW (1225hp), which nether afloat throttle “brings a beardown propulsion backmost feeling comparable to a rocket motorboat astatine 1.7G”.

The institution besides mentions the usage of aviation tyre tech with debased vigor retention, and 900V silicon carbide chips that enactment 2.5-times faster portion drafting little power.

GAC Aion besides produces the sleek Camry-sized S Plus sedan, but fixed section tastes this seems little apt for us.

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