The Aion V is likely one of the vehicles GAC is launching in Europe because it appears to develop its presence within the area. The Aion V is on show on the firm’s stand on the IAA Mobility auto present in Munich, Germany on September 9, 2025.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
Guangzhou Vehicle Group (GAC) goals to extend its European electrical automotive gross sales 17-fold over the following two years, turning into the newest Chinese language participant to tackle the area’s conventional automakers by way of aggressive growth.
The doorway of the Chinese language state-owned carmaker will exacerbate competitors within the already intense European market that has just lately seen curiosity from gamers from the world’s second largest economic system, from BYD to Xpeng.
GAC’s presence will possible additional add strain on European giants — corresponding to BMW and Mercedes — which have appeared to fend off Chinese language entrants with their very own electrical autos.
“Europe is one among our 5 main markets. It’s a strategic market. We hope Europe will account for a serious portion of our abroad market sooner or later,” Wei Haigang, president of GAC Worldwide, instructed CNBC in an interview on the IAA Mobility auto present in Munich on Monday.
Wei stated GAC hopes to promote round 3,000 vehicles in Europe this 12 months, earlier than boosting this goal to fifteen,000 in 2026 and a minimum of 50,000 models by 2027.
GAC confirmed off its Aion V and Aion UT absolutely electrical vehicles on the IAA present this week. Wei stated the corporate can also be seeking to launch a plug-in hybrid automotive in Europe sooner or later.
The targets are aggressive, however come as Chinese language firms proceed to make inroads into Europe’s electrical automobile market. The market share of Chinese language automotive manufacturers within the first half of the 12 months in Europe virtually doubled from the identical interval final 12 months, in response to Jato Dynamics. Whereas the market share stays small at simply over 5%, it has notched fast progress.
GAC is setting sights on growth even regardless of the European Union’s tariffs on China-made EVs, with the corporate saying it’s native manufacturing in Europe.
“We hope the Chinese language authorities and the European Union can negotiate additional to carry the tariffs down,” Wei stated. “Sooner or later, we hope to speed up the manufacturing localization. In order that, sooner or later, we [can] construct up manufacturing functionality in Europe for Europe, to higher serve the European markets.”
