GAC's independent brands should stop internal strife.

In 2025, as the external environment became increasingly harsh and the operation of internal brands was adjusted, GAC Group found itself at the forefront of public opinion. In the eyes of many industry observers, this state - owned automobile enterprise was facing the most severe survival pressure since its establishment.

From new car sales to product layout, from personnel transfers to brand splitting and operation, and then to the reconstruction of the entire corporate strategy, almost all issues related to the enterprise's development were placed in front of the group's leadership.

Since the end of 2024, Feng Xingya, the new chairman who succeeded Zeng Qinghong, naturally took on the most challenging development scenario. And as the group headquarters moved back to the factory area in Panyu from the city center of Guangzhou, he quickly formulated a three - year "Panyu Action" for the group's development.

Under the new guiding principle, GAC Group clearly no longer has the ambition to rely on joint - ventures to easily win the market as in previous years. Regardless of the reasons, it is urgent to reorganize the development of existing brands from the ground up. Trumpchi, Aion, Hyper, and Qijing, which was incubated with Huawei, all have to completely re - sort and re - plan their brands this year within GAC's self - owned system.

After years of market adaptation, for GAC, it's time to let go of the previous model of relying on joint - ventures to make money and supplement the development of self - owned businesses. After the successive restructuring or bankruptcy of GAC Fiat Chrysler and GAC Mitsubishi, GAC received a clear signal: to survive well, GAC has to rely on itself.

Currently, the "Panyu Action" has been implemented for a full year. So, it's time to review the changes that GAC's large self - owned business has conveyed to the outside world during this period. And in the future, can this series of changes support GAC's phased goal of "achieving sales of over 2 million self - owned brand vehicles in 2027, with a sales share of over 60% within the group"?

01

Riding on Huawei's Momentum, GAC Breaks Through Upward

From the beginning when Feng Xingya took over GAC Group, the proportion of self - owned business in the group's development was clearly defined. Among them, Trumpchi and Aion became the main forces in expanding self - owned business. Therefore, from the very beginning, the missions they carried were extremely important.

In March this year, Trumpchi announced the arrival of the Xiangwang vehicle series to the market in Zhuhai along with the domestic large aircraft C919. After that, the Xiangwang M8 Qiankun, S7, and S9 were successively launched. Obviously, in the new brand building, Trumpchi, as the main body of GAC Passenger Vehicle, aimed to further enhance its original image and bring consumers a brand perception that its main products are priced between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan.

Undoubtedly, the core measure in this operation is closely related to Huawei. During the pre - heating stage of the Xiangwang vehicle series, GAC hoped to use Huawei's strength to add value to its products. Whether in the intelligent cockpit or assisted driving, Trumpchi hoped, like many other competitors, to enhance its brand or product value through this.

Looking at the entire industry, apart from Huawei's booming "Five Realms", in terms of cooperation relationships, brands such as Voyah and Mengshi of the Dongfeng Group, and Avatr of the Changan Group have long established connections with Huawei. In terms of market performance, consumers are indeed very willing to pay for Huawei's technology.

That is to say, in Trumpchi's plan, since the Xiangwang vehicle series adopts Huawei's current most popular intelligent technology, it will surely enable consumers to understand the different side of Trumpchi from the past, thus establishing a new brand image.

Meanwhile, as Huang Yongqiang, the former deputy general manager of GAC Toyota, was appointed as the executive deputy general manager of GAC Passenger Vehicle and concurrently the general manager of Trumpchi Sales Company. In addition, many experienced professionals born in the 1970s have also joined Trumpchi's management team. In the eyes of the outside world, Trumpchi is determined to make a complete transformation.

However, an inevitable variable emerged during the group's reorganization process. That is the emergence of the Qijing brand. According to the plan, this new brand led by Huawei will not overlap with GAC's existing brands. But in many people's eyes, Huawei's in - depth participation may cause GAC to shift its business focus towards it.

With limited resources, it's hard to say whether Qijing will squeeze GAC's existing self - owned business segments. For Trumpchi, when "Huawei" becomes the golden signboard for the Xiangwang vehicle series to please users, Qijing, as a direct descendant of Huawei, will surely appear very aggressive.

Indeed, apart from the price range, when it is known that the first car launched by Qijing will be a sedan instead of an SUV or MPV, Qijing's early - stage development avoids Trumpchi's upward path. But as long as Huawei's genes are there, for Trumpchi, how to avoid Qijing's edge will be a very tricky issue. Especially when GAC's existing vehicle model platforms are relatively limited, Trumpchi needs to strike a good balance between brand upgrading and product expansion.

Originally, the price range of Trumpchi's main products is higher than that of other self - owned brands. This year, the target customer group of the Xiangwang vehicle series is high - net - worth family users. Obviously, Trumpchi must rely on suppliers with a good reputation like Huawei and CATL to enhance the value of its products. Then, for the construction of brand culture, Trumpchi must have new ways to implement it. It is reported that the Trumpchi BU is in the preparatory stage. Does this mean that Trumpchi will bring about a major change to the outside world in 2026?

All along, with its mid - to - high - end MPV products, Trumpchi has left a very good impression in the entire self - owned brand camp. Therefore, for most people, using products as a medium to enhance the brand image is still what they most want to see. This is true for Qijing in the future, and even more so for Trumpchi now.

02

Aion and Hyper Run in Parallel to Avoid Resource Waste

After a whole - year system reconstruction, we clearly understand the importance of the parallel development of gasoline and electric vehicles in GAC's future planning. The re - sorting of the personnel system may also play a key role. At the same time, in addition to cooperating with enterprises like Huawei, another major focus of GAC's large self - owned business in seeking development is the new - energy vehicle array led by Aion.

Currently, through years of efforts, Aion has helped GAC accumulate millions of customers in the new - energy vehicle market. At the same time, with the channels of GAC International, it has grown into the main force for GAC to enter the overseas market. However, this year, as Aion is no longer fixated on listing, and the market has introduced the hybrid (extended - range) route during the pure - electric transformation, GAC needs to re - evaluate the iteration of the brand and technology in Aion's future development.

At the beginning of the year, when GAC decided to operate the Hyper brand independently from the Aion system and transferred Ma Haiyang from within to take charge of Hyper, and the person in charge of the Aion brand was also replaced, the outside world thought that the two brands, Hyper and Aion, would each find their own new development paths.

All along, relying on the resources of GAC Research Institute, Hyper has been eager to surpass Aion in brand image and achieve sales growth through new high - end products. However, the reality is that in the face of strong competitors, whether it is the Hyper HL or the later Hyper A800, it will take time to meet the initial expectations.

Many people say that due to the in - depth influence of price wars and public opinion wars, Chinese users' evaluation of high - end products only focuses on brands like Huawei and Li Auto. To be honest, compared with these potential competitors, Hyper's brand reconstruction plan, rather than the product itself, definitely needs a deep - seated adjustment, including the entire chain from product R & D to channel expansion.

At the end of November this year, Pontus Fontaeus, the person in charge of GAC's Forward - looking Design Center in Los Angeles, confirmed through an email to the automotive design information platform Car Design News that the center will stop operating.

On the surface, the closure of this design center may be related to GAC's own business situation. But in the eyes of onlookers, as the forefront of the industry transformation is in China, the Chinese market can provide a satisfactory answer for future product design insights. Especially against the background that the Hyper HL designed by Pontus Fontaeus is not well - adapted to the Chinese market, instead of insisting on cultivating overseas teams, it is better to shift the development focus back to China.

Back to Hyper, when Aion incorporates extended - range technology into its technology path and launches the new car i60, internal strife is even more unacceptable for the former.

It is reported that Hyper's next car will be the S600 equipped with extended - range power. It can be seen that from the A800 to the S600, with the new naming system and new power options, Hyper is actively seeking new ways to break the deadlock. However, in any case, as a sister brand of Aion and shouldering the mission of GAC's high - end new - energy vehicle development, Hyper undoubtedly needs a more complete ecosystem to support it.

In fact, regarding the development of GAC's self - owned business, after years of glorious achievements, we have no doubt about GAC Group's strength reserve.

However, at this time point, relying on GAC Research Institute, the entire GAC self - owned business segment will have four major brands: Trumpchi, Aion, Hyper, and Qijing. Based on the current market changes, we always worry that the intersection between brands and unexpected internal strife will put more pressure on GAC.

In the face of the new phased corporate goals, 2026 is the second year of the implementation of GAC's Panyu Action, and it will surely be a crucial year to test whether GAC can return to the development track. Therefore, while the self - owned business is under pressure, it must come up with a more stable strategy. Fortunately, from the major integration of GAC's self - owned channels to GAC's operation of multiple brands, we do have new expectations.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Automobile Commune" (ID: iAUTO2010), author: Cao Jiadong, editor: He Zengrong, published by 36Kr with authorization.