In addition to its JVs with Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi and FCA, GAC markets multiple models very successfully in China under its own brands. GAC Trumpchi vehicles have been especially well received and the newer GAC NE (New Energy) division is upping its range of EVs in an attempt to take on Tesla.
GAC
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The second generation Trumpchi GS4, a C segment SUV, was announced by GAC in November. A 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo engine with stated outputs of 169 PS and 265 Nm is standard. This, the first vehicle for GAC’s GPMA platform, was soon followed by the GS4 Coupe. The alternate body style was revealed at the Guangzhou motor show, also in November 2019. Sales of both commenced recently. They are amongst the first GAC vehicles to feature Tencent‘s in-car WeChat. These models’ life cycles should last until late 2027 with a facelift in mid-2024.
The larger Trumpchi GS5 uses GAC’s A-platform. The second generation of this SUV debuted at the Paris motor show in October 2018 and was in Chinese market dealerships a few weeks later. There had been ambitious plans to introduce the GAC brand across Europe but these have been shelved. The GS5, which is around the same size as the Toyota RAV4, has the same 1.5-litre engine as in the GS4. It should be facelifted in early 2022 and replaced in 2025. There may be a Trumpchi GS5S (sports version with styling changes) to come and potentially, a GS5 Coupe.
The 4.7 m long GS7 is closely related to the GS8 and GS8S although it’s shorter and has five rather than seven seats. The world debut of this SUV was at the Detroit auto show in January 2017, that example being a prototype. GAC announced at the show that the GS8 and GS7 are based upon what it terms the company’s G-CPMA platform. Chinese market sales of this model commenced in September 2017.
Next year will bring a facelift, certain powertrain updates and a freshened interior. Those changes should remain the main alterations until a replacement steps in around the third or fourth quarters of 2024, some nine months after a new GS8 arrives.
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By GlobalDataThe GS8 has been available since October 2016. The newly added GS8S is a restyled five-seat sports variant although technically speaking it should be called GS7S as it shares the short wheelbase body even if it’s a little bit longer than other GS7 variants.
This large SUV would be on sale in the USA in late 2019, GAC told the media at the 2018 Detroit auto show, an event at which it displayed the model. Company executives also stated that an alternative to the Trumpchi (‘legend’ and ‘good fortune’) brand name was being looked into for the US market.
Plans to launch this model and the GAC brand itself in North America would be delayed until the first half of 2020, GAC executives told the media in 2019. It is now understood that the projected launch is on indefinite hold.
GAC Motor began exports of its Trumpchi models during 2019. The GS8 was the first, with this SUV also one part of the brand’s launch line-up in Russia. As with Volvo S90s and certain other China-built cars and SUVs for European markets, vehicles are not shipped but instead delivered by trains.
Even though much of the sales volume has so far come from SUVs, there are other kinds of GAC models. One such is the Trumpchi GM6. Its public world premiere took place at Auto China, the official name for the Beijing motor show, in April 2018. A facelift is due in 2022 and a successor in 2025 but before then, a PHEV derivative might join the line-up.
There is another, larger minivan: the 5.1m long Trumpchi GM8. This one was heralded by the extraordinarily styled Trumpchi i-Lounge, a concept which premiered at November 2015’s Guangzhou motor show. Two years later we saw the production model and sales commenced in January 2018. A facelift should debut at next year’s AutoShanghai. The second generation is likely to arrive at the end of 2024.
GAC’s own brand cars have model names which start with GA. The Trumpchi GA4 made its world debut at the Detroit auto show in January 2018. This 4.7 m long sedan was launched in the Chinese market one month after its premiere at the NAIAS. There, it replaced the GA5. A mid-life update and changes to the powertrain line-up should arrive in mid-2021. The replacement (late 2024/early 2025) will likely become an EV.
Details of the larger Trumpchi GA6 and Trumchi GA8 sedans, along with other models such as the GS3 (and the GAC NE GE3), are in PLDB.
GAC NE
The New Energy division of GAC is an attempt at a rival brand for Tesla. So far, sales have been encouraging, albeit from a low base, the brand launching its debut model in May 2019.
The Aion S, an electric five-door hatchback, was not only the launch model for an EV-specific architecture but the first for a new generation of CATL lithium-ion cells, the power density of which is stated as being 170 Wh/kg. The electric axle, supplied by Nidec, combines the inverter, gearbox and motor into one 87 kg module.
The 4,786 mm long Aion LX was the second model from GAC’s electric vehicles division. Its world debut was at the Shanghai motor show in April 2019 and production commenced in September at the division’s Smart Eco-Plant. This factory was completed in December 2018 and opened with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles. The car has an NEDC range of 600 km (373 miles). It’s due to be facelifted in 2023 and then replaced in 2026.
The latest, third vehicle for GAC NE is the just-announced Aion V. Full details are in PLDB but a brief summary can also be found here.
Next year, GAC NE should gain at least one other Aion model. That vehicle will likely be a large (circa 5m long) fully electric SUV.
GAC Toyota EV
The GAC Toyota joint venture launched the iA5, an EV, in September 2019. The 4,792 mm long iA5 is a fresh body on GAC NE’s Aion S. The JV quotes the same 510 km range for the iA5 as the Aion S, with the CATL-supplied battery pack having an output of 58.8 kWh. Power and torque are also identical: 135 kW and 300 Nm. The iA5 has GAC logos on its front and rear but a GAC Toyota badge also appears on the bottom left corner of the boot lid.
Both this vehicle and the GAC NE original are scheduled to be facelifted in late 2023 and replaced in 2027.
GAC-Nio Hycan
Details of the Hycan 007, the first model for the GAC and Nio joint venture, will be reported in a feature which expands upon Nio’s current and future models. This will be published in May.
Reports for many other manufacturers’ future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.
Future product program intelligence
More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database.
The next OEM to feature in the future models reports series will be Zotye.
