GAC Aion

Despite GAC being only the fifth largest carmaker in China by some measures, Aion built up genuinely significant scale quickly, becoming the first Chinese brand to sell a million electric vehicles, a milestone reached faster than most of its rivals. That volume has largely come from the Chinese domestic market, including a considerable amount of business from ride hailing and taxi fleets, but Aion has increasingly turned its attention toward exporting to international markets as competition at home has intensified.

Aion officially launched in the UK on 28 May 2026, at a flagship dealership in Slough, through a strategic partnership with Jameel Motors, an established distribution group with more than 80 years in the automotive sector, operating the brand locally as AION Auto UK. The launch came at a moment when UK regulation was pushing hard toward electric vehicle adoption, with zero emission vehicle sales targets requiring an increasing share of new car sales to be electric each year, creating a genuinely receptive market for a new, competitively priced entrant.

Leading Aion’s UK debut is the Aion V, a mid-size electric family SUV. GAC has said it intends to bring a wider range of powertrains to the UK over time, including plug in hybrid and conventional hybrid models alongside pure electric ones, and has confirmed plans to eventually introduce the smaller Aion UT hatchback here too, positioned as a rival to cars like the Volkswagen ID.3. One of Aion’s key selling points across its range is an unusually comprehensive eight year package covering warranty, servicing, breakdown cover and MOT testing, tied to the vehicle rather than just its first owner.

GAC has framed the UK launch as central to its wider European roadmap, and has committed to building out a genuinely local UK operation, rather than treating Britain as an afterthought to a broader continental rollout. Whether that translates into the same kind of rapid growth other recent Chinese entrants have managed in the UK remains to be seen.