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GAC Is Ready To Storm Europe With Its EV Army And Big Ambitions
- Chinese automaker GAC aims to make Europe one of its biggest export markets.
- The company brought two EVs from the GAC Aion series at the Munich show.
- GAC targets boosting sales from 3,000 this year to over 50,000 units by 2027.
Chinese automakers are no longer quietly edging into Europe, they’re making a full-scale push that is chipping away at local brands’ sales. The latest entrant is GAC, arriving with an ambitious target of selling more than 50,000 vehicles a year in Europe by 2027.
At the Munich motor show, the company displayed the GAC Aion UT compact hatchback and the GAC Aion V midsize SUV. Its European lineup will also feature the fully electric GAC Aion Y crossover along with the more premium Hyptec HT coupe-SUV. Every model is electric for now, though a plug-in hybrid will join the portfolio later.
More: GAC Aion UT EV Starts At $9,600, Packs Up To 260 Miles Of Range
The president of GAC International, Wei Haigang, told CNBC at the Munich show that Europe is one of the company’s five key markets. “It is a strategic market,” he said, adding that GAC hopes the region will become a major part of its overseas business in the years ahead.
Growth by the Numbers
Haigang projected sales of 3,000 GAC cars in Europe this year, climbing to 15,000 in 2026 and more than 50,000 by 2027. That would represent a seventeenfold increase in just two years, yet the figure still pales next to the company’s domestic performance. In 2024, GAC sold 127,000 vehicles in overseas markets, contributing to global sales of 2,003,058 units.
Photos Stefan Baldauf & Guido ten Brink
To ease the impact of tariffs on Chinese imports, GAC is weighing the idea of producing cars within Europe. Haigang emphasized hopes for progress in trade negotiations but said the company is also preparing to localize manufacturing to better serve European customers.
“We are hoping the Chinese government and the European Union can negotiate further to bring the tariffs down,” Haigang said. “In the future, we hope to accelerate the manufacturing localization. So that we can build up manufacturing capability in Europe, to better serve the European markets.”
More: Chinese Smartphone Giant’s European EV Push Might Spell Trouble For Tesla
Industry data underscores how quickly Chinese brands are gaining ground. According to Jato Dynamics, their combined market share in Europe nearly doubled in the first half of 2025 to 5.1 percent, equal to 347,135 units. BYD leads with 70,500 sales, while other names such as Jaecoo, Omoda, Leapmotor, and Xpeng are posting sharp growth as well.
