GAC is ready to make a big move

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

The massive shake-up in China's new energy vehicle market has forced traditional car manufacturers, who once felt secure relying on joint ventures, to seek transformation and change.

At the 22nd Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, which opened on November 15, GAC Group announced the launch of a three-year "Panyu Action," relocating its headquarters to Guangzhou Panyu Automotive City and shifting its management model from strategic control to operational control, directly descending to the front line. This transformation aims to hear the sounds of battle at the front line and accelerate its own change.

The focus of GAC's transformation will be on increasing sales of its own brands. GAC has set a new goal for the next three years: to achieve over 60% of total sales from its own brands by 2027, challenging the target of 2 million units in sales for its own brands.

At this auto show, GAC Group showcased five new energy models, making it one of the brands with the most new cars debuting at the exhibition.

The five new models, either making their debut or being showcased for the first time, include the "1 Concept" concept car, the first result of the joint "New" plan between GAC Trumpchi and Huawei, the Aion UT Parrot Dragon, the third global strategic model from Aion, and the Haobo HL, the first intelligent flagship SUV under Haobo; on the joint venture side, there are the production version of the YP brand's first model, YP7, and the new intelligent pure electric SUV, Platinum 3X, from the Platinum Smart brand.

In the next three years, GAC will introduce more new cars, with its three major self-owned brands launching 22 new models, including 7 models to be launched in 2025, covering all mainstream new energy power forms such as pure electric, extended range, and plug-in hybrid.

The further enrichment of model categories and energy forms is the foundation for achieving the three-year sales target. Achieving the target of 2 million units in sales for its own brands in three years poses a certain challenge. In comparison, GAC Group's total sales for the first ten months of this year were 1.5208 million units.

Moreover, from the sales structure perspective, in the first ten months of this year, the sales of the two joint venture brands accounted for 61.77% of GAC Group's total sales; while the self-owned brands accounted for 37.94% of total sales. This means that currently, the main contributors to GAC Group's sales are still the joint venture brands, making it challenging for self-owned brands to take on a larger role.

However, GAC has already begun a series of specific measures.

This is reflected in the "Panyu Action," specifically, GAC hopes to recreate a vigorous "New GAC" through four major reform initiatives: brand leadership, product supremacy, technological advancement, and international market expansion.

In terms of branding, GAC plans to develop its major self-owned brands with distinct characteristics. Among them, GAC Trumpchi is positioned as mainstream and grand, Aion as advanced, trendy, and high-quality, while Haobo is tagged with technology and luxury.

Additionally, at this auto show, traditional car manufacturers have also begun to showcase their intelligent capabilities, and GAC is no exception. In terms of intelligence, GAC is also focusing on both self-research and cooperation.

GAC introduced that GAC Trumpchi will deepen its cooperation with Huawei to launch three major series of new mid-to-high-end SUVs, MPVs, and sedans, all equipped with Huawei's advanced intelligent driving technology; the main models of Aion and Haobo will be equipped with GAC's extended range technology, improving pure electric range and overall energy consumption Of course, these improvements require "cash capability." GAC introduced that in order to persist in building a technology-driven GAC, it has invested over 50 billion yuan in independent research and development to date.

In the field of new energy, it has already mass-produced industry-leading cartridge batteries, super fast charging, and Quark electric drive technology. All-solid-state battery technology is also scheduled to be installed in vehicles by 2026.

Additionally, this year GAC has made significant strides in intelligent driving. GAC Aion has launched four high-end intelligent driving models this year, taking the lead in popularizing high-end intelligent driving and large model technology to the 150,000 yuan level.

Next, GAC will use the third-generation Xingling electronic and electrical architecture EEA3.0 as a foundation to quickly launch end-to-end intelligent driving technology based on generative AI and an industry-leading end-cloud integrated large model multimodal interaction system.

In the future, GAC's goal is also to enter the first tier of intelligent driving.

In the overseas market where many car companies are competing, GAC is also paying special attention.

Currently, GAC's factories in Malaysia and Thailand have been completed and put into production this year, with products entering nearly 70 countries and regions overseas, marking a new stage of internationalization with both vehicle exports and local production running in parallel.

The focus on exports is also reflected in sales. In the first ten months of this year, GAC Group exported 105,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 86.3%.

Of course, GAC has even bigger goals for going global: by 2027, GAC aims to enter 100 countries and regions worldwide, challenging to export 500,000 vehicles.

The automotive industry is a century-old industry, with various car companies experiencing rise and fall, each leading for a few years. For GAC, the flag has been raised, and the three-year "Panyu Action" has already begun. It remains to be seen what kind of "New GAC" GAC will present to the industry three years from now