This Chinese EV Maker Is Stepping In Where Fisker Faltered

• GAC Group, a state-owned Chinese automaker, is now building cars in the European Union.
• The GAC Aion V, an all-electric SUV, entered mass production at Magna’s facility in Graz, Austria.
• The same factory builds Xpeng EVs and the Mercedes-Benz G-Class; it also assembled the Fisker Ocean and Jaguar I-Pace.

GAC may not ring a bell for many, but it just started building electric cars in the European Union, thanks to a newly announced partnership with Magna, the contract manufacturer that’s known for making the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Jaguar I-Pace and ill-fated Fisker Ocean.

That’s the same path that Xpeng, another Chinese EV-making rising star, chose earlier this year to kick-start its local manufacturing efforts and skirt those pesky EU tariffs that can take a deep cut out of the profits. All the while, Magna gets more business and gets to keep the lights on after the Jaguar I-Pace and Fisker Ocean went out of production.

A GAC Aion V EV built at Magna’s factory in Graz, Austria

Photo by: GAC

The first GAC to be built on European soil by Magna is the Aion V, a five-door electric crossover that was recently crash tested by Euro NCAP and got the highly coveted five-star rating, while other models from legacy automakers only got four stars.

It’s only available with a front-mounted drive unit that makes 201 horsepower, and the only battery available is a 75.2-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pack that enables a 316-mile WLTP-certified range. That’s around 271 miles in the EPA cycle, if it were to be sold stateside.

In other words, it’s nothing to write home about, but the GAC Aion V shines when it comes to the standard equipment and price, much like other Chinese EVs.

The 181-inch-long crossover starts at $41,500 (€35,990) in Germany, which includes VAT. For this kind of money, customers get a Toyota RAV4-sized EV with a panoramic sunroof, a heated steering wheel, a six-way power-adjustable driver seat, heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, dual-zone automatic air conditioning with a heat pump, automatic high beam, Apple CarPlay connectivity, and two displays. The charging speed is also decent, at 180 kilowatts DC and 11 kW AC.

By comparison, the feature-stripped Tesla Model Y Standard, which is admittedly longer and wider than the GAC Aion V, is $46,000 (€39,990) in Germany. The Euro-spec Model Y is also made in the EU, at Tesla’s factory in Germany, so it’s not subject to the extra tariffs imposed on Chinese-made EVs. However, the Shanghai-built Model 3 is, but Tesla is giving no indication that it wants to start European production of the electric sedan.

GAC is not the first and will certainly not be the last Chinese automaker seeking to get a foothold in Europe. Leapmotor, Stellantis’ joint venture, briefly built the tiny T03 EV in Poland before scrapping that plan; the company still plans on making an electric crossover in Spain starting next year. Xpeng, like GAC, tapped Magna to assemble two electric models in Austria.

BYD, meanwhile, is working on getting its first electric car factory up and running in Hungary by the end of the year.

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