The head of GAC Australia said it has a choice of global models for potential local launches as its Chinese parent company eagerly expands its global presence.
GAC, which stands for Guangzhou Automobile Group, sells more left-hand drive cars in China than any other market, recording 2 million sales there in 2024. However, the company also sells vehicles in various right-hand drive markets such as Thailand.
It will launch in Australia this month with a ready parts inventory, around 30 dealers and three confirmed models – a petrol SUV, an electric SUV and a plug-in hybrid people mover.
While GAC offers three separate brands in China – Aion, the China-only GAC Trumpchi brand and Hyptec – the company will sell all of its vehicles in Australia under the GAC name, regardless of the brand overseas.
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In addition to these models, GAC says it offers a wide range of right-hand drive vehicles for the Australian product range.
“When we design the product, we have already designed the so-called global platform, which can be used for both right-hand and left-hand drive,” said Cheney Liang, deputy general manager of GAC Australia Daily Sparkz.
“We also have many right-hand drive markets such as the UK, South Africa and some countries in Asia such as Hong Kong and Singapore.”
A look at GAC’s Thai product range, for example, shows a range of right-hand drive electric vehicles (EVs), ranging from the mid-size Aion ES sedan to the premium large SUV Hyptec HT with its distinctive gullwing doors.
The economies of scale in right-hand drive models give the Chinese state-owned automaker an advantage over some rivals, including Western companies like Ford and General Motors, which produce a range of potentially desirable left-hand-only vehicles.
The competitiveness of the Australian market offers GAC a wider range of cars to achieve its goal of being among the top ten best-selling brands here by 2030.
However, the focus is initially on SUVs and not on cars – the latter refers, among other things, to hatchbacks and sedans.
“Before deciding which products to come to Australia, we did some research and found that the passenger car market share is declining, so we decided to bring the most popular product here first, which is the SUV,” Mr Liang said.
“We still haven’t decided on all the models that will be launched in the future… each can have a chance if there is a customer need,” Mr. Liang continued.
The two SUVs confirmed for Australia are the GAC Trumpchi GS3 Emzoom petrol-powered SUV, a five-seat petrol-powered SUV the size of a Nissan Qashqai, and the Aion V battery-electric SUV the size of a Toyota RAV4.
They will be joined by the GAC Trumpchi E9 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) people mover, another unnamed SUV in 2027, and a dual-cab SUV as part of an eight-model lineup by 2029.
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