GAC AION RT: It is not as cheap as MONA M03, but it wants to sell as well.

Text｜Han Yongchang 

Editor｜Zhang Bowen

At 119,800 yuan, the same price as the low-end version of Xiaopeng MONA M03, Aion RT doesn't bring much surprise in terms of price.

This "Big-Eyed Mini-Panamera" is very stunning in the promotional pictures, but the actual car on the scene is slightly mediocre. It is more like a copy of BYD Seal, still having a considerable gap with Panamera, and not as shocking as the release of MONA 03.

Aion RT promotional picture

RT launch event actual car picture

Aion positions RT as: A new stylish and intelligent driving sedan. As the name suggests, it has a good appearance and outstanding intelligent driving capabilities. This is almost targeting Xiaopeng MONA M03. However, in terms of appearance, RT is already slightly inferior.

In terms of intelligent driving capabilities, RT performs well. The vehicle version equipped with a lidar supports No-map Urban NDA. At the launch event, whether it is in urban village roads, rural roads, narrow roads with stone piers, etc., RT can pass through with ease.

The launch event also introduced that RT's automatic parking supports more than 300 common and extreme parking spaces, with a parking success rate of up to 99%.

Xiao Yong, the deputy general manager of GAC Aion, even shouted out that the high-level intelligent driving of Aion RT is the high-level intelligent driving that best understands Chinese roads, and Aion's intelligent driving has entered the first echelon in China. He also promised that the high-level intelligent driving version will be delivered as soon as it is launched.

The two versions of Aion with high-level intelligent driving are priced at 155,800 yuan and 165,800 yuan respectively. While the top-end version of Xiaopeng MONA M03, which also supports urban area navigation, is also priced at 155,800 yuan.

RT also offers a cash benefit of 99 yuan as an intent deposit, which can be used as a 3,000 yuan deduction for the car purchase, but only before 24:00 on the night of the launch event, and it ends in only 3 hours.

"Providing the first high-level intelligent driving experience for young people around the world" is the promotional slogan of RT. But it seems that Xiaopeng MONA M03 has already achieved this.

The difference between RT and M03 in intelligent driving is that the latter takes a pure visual route and is developed by itself, while the former is equipped with a lidar and is developed in cooperation with suppliers.

M03 is equipped with 21 intelligent hardware, while Aion RT has 27, including Nvidia Orin-X. Using sensors with a higher cost may be the reason why the price of RT is difficult to be lowered further.

With a higher cost and the same price as MONA M03, Aion has indeed shown sincerity.

But as a pure electric vehicle, in the most fiercely competitive A-class sedan market, can Aion RT, which competes with MONA M03 at the same price, create another sales miracle?

"The new car has selling points, but the market space for pure electric vehicles is limited"

At the beginning of the launch event, Xiao Yong announced that Aion RT has already received 30,000 pre-sale orders.

When the pre-sale price was set at 119,800 yuan, the market seemed to believe that the starting price of this car would be cheaper than that of MONA M03. But in fact, the pre-sale price is the same as the sale price.

Now, the order volume of MONA M03 is already approaching 100,000. Whether Aion RT, this competing model, can still guarantee the order volume after its launch, it needs time to test.

Aion RT has two battery life versions of 520km and 650km, still equipped with GAC弹匣 battery, with a maximum power of 65 degrees. Combined with high-level intelligent driving, there are a total of five configurations to choose from.

The 520 lidar version of RT is priced the same as the 580 Ultra Long Battery Life MAX version of MONA M03, both at 155,800 yuan, and both models have high-level intelligent driving.

RT also launched an additional 650 lidar version, with a 130km increase in battery life, costing 10,000 yuan more, at 165,800 yuan.

In terms of energy replenishment, Aion RT has built a 400V platform based on silicon carbide technology, which can achieve 3C fast charging, and can replenish energy up to 200km in 10 minutes. Such an energy replenishment speed is completely sufficient at present, and it is also a level that MONA M03 has not achieved.

Although it failed to be cheaper than MONA M03, Aion RT has also shown sincerity. This car is the "hope of the whole village" for Aion, and even the "last hope".

The main factors for consumers to buy a car are appearance, price, and brand. This A-class pure electric sedan has a passable appearance and a low enough price. The biggest shortcoming is in the brand.

Almost everyone is clear about Aion's problem: The TO B strategy is too successful, so that it has become a ride-hailing brand. Although RT has an avant-garde design, it is also difficult to break through this stereotype.

Aion has made efforts. The appearance of Hyper is to change the difficult situation. Whether it is gull-wing doors or supercars, almost all designs that can attract attention and enhance the brand tone are reflected in Hyper. But the effect is still minimal. In October this year, the sales volume of the Hyper brand was only 2,805 units, and this is the data after four consecutive increases.

Aion RT is a sincere car, but it is not easy to achieve higher sales. Especially in the case where the sales growth rate of pure electric vehicles is slowing down.

In the A-class pure electric sedan market, except for MONA MO3, basically no one can create a miracle. Xiaopeng probably did not expect MONA 03 to be so popular that there was a "happy trouble" of delayed delivery after a burst of orders.

Judging from the price range of RT and MO3, the competition among models of the same level is too fierce. Qin L DM and Seal 06 DM-i are both models with monthly sales of more than 40,000 units, and the single-model sales are more than the sum of Aion and Hyper.

And classic fuel vehicles, such as Sylphy, Lavida, Sagitar, and other long-lasting models, still have a market in the vast northern areas where the penetration rate of new energy is not high and the charging infrastructure is not perfect. The monthly sales still remain at around 20,000 to 30,000, and the prices are even cheaper.

The A-class sedan has always been the market segment with the fiercest competition. Every player is highly competitive and has its own fixed consumer group. It is too difficult for pure electric models to break through.

But the appearance of Aion RT can be seen that GAC Aion has taken a crucial step to change the brand image. Aion, and even GAC, urgently need a new car to reverse the situation.

"Aion needs a 'hit', and GAC needs it even more"

In March 2023, Aion's sales exceeded 40,000 units for the first time, and its monthly sales exceeded the total delivery volume of "Weixiaoli". According to the official statement of GAC Aion, "Aion has thus entered a new stage of scale effect".

But until the just-ended October, Aion's global sales are still at 40,000 units. After 19 months, Aion's sales have returned to the starting point.

The sales failed to maintain a stable growth because the model update is too slow.

When GAC Aion General Manager Gu Huinan was interviewed by the media at the beginning of the year, he mentioned that in order to support the development of Hyper, Aion has not released a new car for two years. Last year's new cars were basically given to Hyper, and Aion did not release a new car until the first half of this year.

In the past two years, Aion has been giving way to Hyper to build a high-end brand. But the result is obvious. Last year, the cumulative sales volume of the Hyper brand was only 8,087 units.

Without a new car, Aion can only rely on the B-end market AION S and AION Y to support the sales data.

The only highlight of the Aion brand this year is that the new car AION V Tyrannosaurus, which was launched in the second half of the year, had a sales volume of nearly 10,000 in October, which also indicates that the model replacement of Aion has finally begun.

Aion needs a hit to boost sales and confidence. After all, in the current situation where the price war in the auto market continues, the price of pure electric vehicles is constantly lowering. The market space that originally belonged to Aion models is being continuously squeezed by old rivals BYD, as well as new rivals Geely Galaxy, Xiaopeng MONA, etc. The sluggish sales are also helpless.

If it is expanded to GAC Group, a hit model is even more important.

Data shows that GAC Group's revenue in the third quarter was 28.233 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 21.73%; the net profit loss was 1.396 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 190.40%.

Expanded to the first three quarters, it is even more tragic. GAC Group's revenue in the first three quarters was 74.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.18%; the net profit attributable to the parent was only 120 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 97.34%, setting the worst financial performance in the 14 years since its listing.

In terms of sales volume, GAC Group has experienced a year-on-year decline in sales for 9 consecutive months this year. From January to September this year, GAC Group's cumulative sales volume was 1.3351 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 25.59%.

By brand, more than 60% of GAC Group's current sales come from its GAC Toyota and GAC Honda. However, both major joint venture brands have experienced a year-on-year sales decline of more than 20% in the first nine months of this year.

The price war in the domestic auto market is like a fierce fire, and GAC Toyota, Honda and other joint venture auto companies are the first to bear the brunt. The unit price of the vehicle is constantly being lowered, which is the main reason for GAC Group's ugly performance.

In the past, GAC Group used the profits of the two joint venture brands, Toyota and Honda, to support Aion, and Trumpchi was responsible for its own profits and losses. In just a few years, it created a miracle of Aion's monthly sales of 40,000. But now, such a method has failed.

In the price war, joint venture auto companies are becoming more and more difficult. Wang Chuanfu, the chairman and president of BYD, even predicted that in the next 3 - 5 years, the share of joint venture brands will drop from 40% to 10%.

When BYD makes a move, domestic brands are bound to follow. The involution in the Chinese market is not over, and there is even a possibility of further escalation.

GAC, which once relied on joint venture brands, needs a new growth pole to support the group's survival in the new energy era. Obviously, Aion needs to shoulder this task and become the mainstay of GAC.

Now, RT is launched with full configuration and low price, showing full sincerity. Aion is doing its best. Of course, if this car fails to achieve success, it will also make Aion and even GAC fall into a more painful abyss.