Full steam ahead at the beginning of the year? GAC needs to prove itself with results.

"High - quality development is the primary task of state - owned enterprises in the new era, and it is also the only way for GAC Group to break through the situation and move forward."

After a whole year of in - depth adjustment in 2025, everyone in GAC, from top to bottom, is looking forward to the results of the reform in the future. Standing at the starting point of the 2026 auto market, when Chairman Feng Xingya gave instructions at the group's high - quality development conference this year, it is believed that the eagerness for a new beginning has reached its peak.

Last year, the performance of the whole group was clearly in front of us. While the overall sales volume declined, the profit loss was also a hard pill to swallow. Compared with other Chinese automakers, the highly competitive environment has exhausted everyone. However, on the path of pursuing development, each has its own methodology.

To break through in such an environment, having determination alone is obviously not enough. Facing the more severe reality this year, all GAC can do is to find out its own crux from the source.

Restricted by the original system, both the joint - venture companies and the self - owned businesses under GAC once had problems keeping up with the rhythm of their competitors under the rapid market iteration. Especially in the face of the booming new energy market, it is obviously not enough to rely solely on Aion to struggle in the industrial wave.

In the new year, Feng Xingya once again emphasized that the group needs to promote three major tasks of "stabilizing joint - ventures, strengthening self - owned brands, and expanding the ecosystem", aiming to systematically eliminate the dross in the past development.

Meanwhile, the initiative of "starting the work is like starting a battle, and taking the first step is like starting a sprint" sets a new development tone for GAC Group in 2026 with a firm attitude: Don't dwell on the past and go all out.

GAC Toyota, which is eager to return to the annual sales target of one million vehicles, GAC Honda, which doesn't want to get lost in the electrification transformation anymore, Trumpchi, Aion, and Hyper, which choose to integrate and start anew, as well as the newly launched Huawei Qiankun | Qijing, all share the same purpose, which is to support the whole group to truly complete the transformation through the "Panyu Action".

01

Reform First, Escort the New Strategy

"2026 is the first year of the 14th Five - Year Plan and a crucial year for the 'Panyu Action' to carry forward the past and open up the future." The outside world is very clear about GAC's development plan and what the pros and cons of this year's development mean for GAC Group.

If everything goes according to plan or achieves results far beyond expectations, GAC can always bury the disappointments of the past year in history. The recovery of sales volume and the return of profit are the best gifts after the establishment of the new system. On the contrary, not only will the "Panyu Action" fail to achieve a satisfactory result, but it also indicates that GAC as a whole cannot bring sustainable productivity to itself in the face of drastic market changes.

Currently, the entire industry is constantly increasing the intensity of corporate overseas output due to the rise of Chinese automobiles. However, for GAC, since the company has always adhered to the development logic of combining joint - ventures and self - owned brands, just as Feng Xingya has deployed, all sectors of the whole group cannot lag behind in order to win this tough battle.

Last year, in this market environment, many enterprises indeed had their development limitations.

Similarly, the drawbacks of the old system have occasionally made GAC stumble in the accelerated transformation. However, with the group's establishment of the long - term reform system of "2 + 3+X" and the successful completion of the key task of "laying a solid foundation and erecting the framework" in the first stage, the IPD product development system has been gradually introduced, and the Hyper Aion BU and Trumpchi BU have been officially put into operation, initially realizing the integration of R & D, production, supply, and sales of self - owned brands. GAC's preparatory work is almost completed.

Today, although the less - optimistic performance of the auto market since the beginning of the year has shocked everyone in the industry and made them wonder how to go forward, perhaps such changes have actually given GAC an opportunity to see the future clearly.

As the biggest highlight of GAC last year, GAC Toyota has opened a good situation for the electrification of joint - ventures with the bZ3X and laid a foundation for subsequent development by deeply cooperating with Chinese technology. However, at this moment, as GAC attaches more and more importance to stabilizing joint - ventures, all the efforts of GAC Toyota have only opened a small window, and there is still a long way to go.

On March 5th, it was the pre - sale day of the second Chinese - made pure - electric new car, the bZ7, of GAC Toyota. Since its debut, it has been well - received. Finally, it was decided to be launched at the beginning of the new year, which shows how much hope GAC Toyota has placed on this car.

Since Chinese automobiles have become more confident, the days of joint - ventures have indeed become more difficult. GAC Toyota must be clear about its own situation. With the success of the bZ3X, rather than taking a sigh of relief, how to follow up on the success is the main task. After all, GAC Honda, as its sister company, is still struggling to get out of the quagmire.

For the work in the new stage, there is a sentence in the requirements put forward by the group for joint - ventures that is unforgettable. "Sharing R & D results through localized adaptation and development" seems to be summarizing the experience of GAC Toyota. In fact, this is not only a suggestion put forward by the group for GAC's joint - ventures but also a hard requirement given by the entire industry at present.

It's hard to believe that GAC Honda, once a top - tier brand, has seen its sales decline for many years and almost dropped by a quarter last year. At the same time, GAC Toyota has shouted the slogan of returning to annual sales of one million vehicles.

There is no doubt that with GAC Toyota taking the lead and GAC Honda keeping up quickly while maintaining its brand genes, GAC is bound to combine the experience accumulated in the joint - venture era in the past 20 years with future development this year. As long as the bZ7 can open the door to the revival of joint - ventures again and gain a foothold in the pure - electric sedan market, there is a possibility of recovery.

Over the past year, both joint - ventures and self - owned brands have been undergoing adjustments, indicating that 2026 will be the first complete year to test the results of GAC's reform. Under the new plan, all old orders at the enterprise level will be reorganized.

02

Joint - ventures and Self - owned Brands, All as Main Forces

The development of joint - ventures is often restricted due to the presence of foreign capital, which is determined by the characteristics of the company. It is a good thing that there have been some changes today. However, Feng Xingya also said that GAC will focus on "three major battles" and continuously improve the system competitiveness of self - owned brands.

Since the Trumpchi BU and Hyper Aion BU were established one after another at the end of last year, the outside world naturally has high expectations for the future development of GAC's large self - owned brand.

Last year, in order to promote the brand to a higher level, the Trumpchi Xiangwang series was launched in March; Hyper, with its management fully renewed, tried to bring new life to the whole brand with the HL as the contact point; after failing to go public, Aion shifted from pure - electric to the development path of "pure - electric + range - extended", and its pace was accelerated. However, it is obvious that this brand evolution idea of each going its own way did not achieve good results.

Looking back, from product definition to channel construction and then to marketing promotion, both Trumpchi and Aion, which rely on the group's resources, have shown some immaturity in some aspects. However, today, following the high - speed operation of the market and the ever - changing consumption trends, in order to further complete the tasks assigned by the group, GAC's self - owned brands simply don't have more time for trial and error.

Zhang Xiong took over the Hyper Aion BU, with Yang Long and Feng Yu as vice - presidents; Huang Jian was appointed as the president of the Trumpchi BU, with Li An and Wang Yu as his right - hand men. In addition, GAC Group has officially entered the "Feng Ge Era" (Feng Xingya + Ge Xianqing). To put it simply, all that is being done now is to let the outside world see the shadow of the qualitative change of GAC's self - owned brands.

Like GAC Toyota, the reason why it is said that GAC has gone all out since the beginning of the year, the thinking of the self - owned brand sector during this period cannot be ignored. First, Aion presented a renewed IP image and a new version of the i60. Then, Hyper officially introduced the A800, a new mid - to - high - end new energy sedan, into the market.

These days, the auto circle has been very busy, and almost all the leading automakers have launched their first wave of new products of the new year during this period. But in the end, in the face of the moves of competitors, every card played by GAC's self - owned brands must stand up to scrutiny.

Judging from the group's perspective on the sales volume of its brands in the first month of the year, it seems quite good. However, how the Chinese auto market will start in 2026 is clearly reminding GAC.

If Trumpchi wants to truly reshape its brand image based on the "Trumpchi Xiangwang", simply using old - fashioned methods to launch new models and bundling Huawei technology for product premium is not advisable. Such actions are not only too traditional but also lack any outstanding features. In the new plan, any flashy marketing is meaningless. Even regaining the confidence of the Trumpchi brand in the mid - to - high - end MPV market would be much more effective.

It is true that Aion is right to launch a new version while the i60 has been selling well for months. However, facing the reality that the brand is confined to the price range below 150,000 yuan, the subsequent new cars such as the N60 should not aim to replace existing products like the AION Y. Instead, they should really find a way to pull the Aion brand out of the category of ride - hailing cars and truly help it become a representative brand of "national good cars".

Soon, the first model of the Qijing brand will be unveiled in the middle of this year. However, for Hyper, also a mid - to - high - end new energy brand, from the newly launched A800 to the S600 whose information was revealed at the end of last year, this is not a signal of the arrival of a powerful ally. After the new organizational structure is completed, Hyper urgently needs to extricate itself from the mediocre situation through its own efforts.

Both internally and externally, GAC will not have an easy time this year.

"In the first year of the plan, create a good start; in the crucial year, make crucial achievements. Promote the 'whole - year stability' and 'whole - year victory' with a good start in the first quarter, and make every effort to promote the high - quality development of GAC Group to a new level." Such a declaration always makes people excited, but everything has just begun. GAC, going all out, needs a complete victory to silence all the external noise.

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