The Aion V is looking to expand its presence in the region as GAC is one of the cars launched in Europe. AION V will be on display in its stands at the IAA Mobility Auto Show held in Munich, Germany on September 9, 2025.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) aims to increase European electric vehicle sales by 17 times over the next two years, making it the latest Chinese player to take on the region’s traditional automaker through aggressive expansion.
The entrance to China’s state-owned automobile manufacturers exacerbates competition in the already intense European market, which has recently found interest from BYD to BYD from the world’s second largest economy player. xpeng.
The presence of GAC could put even more pressure on the European giants – BMW and Mercedes – It aims to dodge Chinese participants with their own electric vehicles.
“Europe is one of five major markets. It’s a strategic market. I hope Europe explains most of the future overseas markets,” GAC International president Wei Haigang told CNBC in an interview at the IAA Mobility Auto Show held in Munich on Monday.
Wei said GAC hopes to sell around 3,000 cars in Europe this year. It will then push this target to 15,000 units in 2026, and increase it to at least 50,000 units by 2027.
GAC showed off the Aion V and Aion UT completely to electric vehicles at this week’s IAA show. Wei said the company is considering launching plug-in hybrid cars in Europe in the future.
The target is offensive, but it appears as Chinese companies continue to expand into the European electric vehicle market. According to Jato Dynamics, the market share of Chinese car brands in the first half of Europe has almost doubled since the same period last year. Market share remains at just over 5%, but is growing rapidly.
GAC has set the sights on expansion despite the European Union’s tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, and the company says it is watching local production in Europe.
“We hope that the Chinese government and the European Union can negotiate more to overthrow the tariffs,” Wei said. “In the future, we want to accelerate manufacturing localization. So in the future, we will be able to increase our manufacturing capacity in Europe and provide better service to the European market.”
