GAC's first test result of the "Panyu Initiative" is dismal as it expects a pre - tax loss of over 1.8 billion yuan in the first half - year.

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On July 15th, Feng Xingya, the chairman of GAC Group, posted a video on Weibo, in which he reflected on the previous strategic issues of GAC Group. "Back then, we didn't accurately grasp customers' range anxiety. We thought that extended - range and plug - in technologies were transitional routes and missed the opportunity of the rapid development of extended - range and plug - in hybrid technologies in recent years."

At the 2025 China Automobile Forum held on July 11th, Feng Xingya bluntly stated, "Today, GAC Group has fully entered a 'wartime state'."

Behind this is the pressure on GAC Group's sales and performance. In the first half of 2025, GAC Group's cumulative sales volume was 755,300 vehicles, a year - on - year decrease of 12.4%. Except for GAC Toyota, which achieved a 2.58% sales increase, the sales of other brands all declined by double - digits. Meanwhile, according to the performance forecast released by GAC Group, its net profit attributable to the parent company in the first half of 2025 was between - 1.82 billion yuan and - 2.6 billion yuan. This is GAC Group's first semi - annual loss in the past decade.

As the first - half performance since the launch of the three - year "Panyu Action" and the first semi - annual report submitted by Feng Xingya after taking over as the chairman of GAC Group, GAC Group's performance is obviously not very optimistic. When will GAC Group's reform yield satisfactory results?

The performance of new models fails to meet expectations

In the performance forecast, GAC Group stated that in the first half of the year, the company vigorously implemented the integrated operation reform of its self - owned brands and actively took multiple measures to promote reform, innovation, transformation, and upgrading in a coordinated manner, laying a good foundation for the stabilization and recovery of performance. The work of "stabilizing joint - ventures, strengthening self - owned brands, and expanding the ecosystem" has achieved initial results, and the production and sales of the joint - venture enterprise GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. have resumed positive growth.

However, affected by multiple factors, the net profit attributable to the parent company has suffered a loss. The main reasons are that several key new energy models launched by the company during the reporting period are still in the sales growth stage and have not reached the planned targets. Many leading models have seen a decline in revenue due to the price war; there is a structural mismatch between the existing sales system and the needs of new energy transformation. The sales channels are mainly dominated by the original 4S stores, and the construction of new channels such as direct sales, agency, and Internet is lagging behind the industry, and the efficiency improvement of the marketing system is slow; it still takes time for the integrated operation reform of self - owned brands to take effect. During the reporting period, the company is still continuously promoting the improvement of new product development efficiency and cost control in various fields; the company's overseas sales foundation is weak, and there is still room for improvement in channel construction, product management, and business coordination.

In the first half of 2025, GAC Group's self - owned brands successively launched multiple new energy models. Data shows that in February 2025, the pure - electric two - door car Aion UT, priced between 69,800 yuan and 101,800 yuan, was officially launched. Xiao Yong, the person in charge of the Aion marketing department of GAC Group, once revealed that the Aion UT is a volume - driving model, and the break - even point for economies of scale is a monthly sales volume of 15,000 vehicles to suppress costs through scale.

However, according to data from Chezhuzhijia, the cumulative sales volume of the Aion UT in the first half of 2025 was 18,700 vehicles, with an average monthly sales volume of less than 4,000 vehicles. In the same segment, the Geely Xingyuan had a cumulative sales volume of 204,900 vehicles in the first half of the year, and the BYD Seagull had a cumulative sales volume of 174,900 vehicles. The Wuling Bingo also had a sales volume of 78,300 vehicles. Compared with its competitors, the Aion UT's performance is obviously not outstanding.

GAC Trumpchi launched the Xiangwang S7 priced at 169,800 - 223,800 yuan and the Xiangwang M8 priced at 359,900 - 409,900 yuan, which were launched in March and May respectively. The new Xiangwang series is positioned at the high - end market and shoulders the heavy responsibility of promoting the GAC Trumpchi brand to a higher level. According to media reports, GAC Trumpchi plans to achieve a sales volume of 200,000 vehicles for the Xiangwang series in 2027, but the first - model did not have a good start. Data from Chezhuzhijia shows that the sales volume of the Xiangwang S7 in the first half of 2025 was 7,268 vehicles. It sold 2,977 vehicles in April, but then the sales volume in May and June returned to just over 1,000 vehicles.

In April, the GAC Hyper HL was launched, positioning as a new luxury family - oriented intelligent SUV, priced at 269,800 - 319,800 yuan. Gu Huinan, the general manager of GAC Aion, once said, "This car almost incorporates all of GAC's efforts and technologies"; Feng Xingya, the chairman of GAC Group, even emphasized, "In the next three years, GAC Group will support the Hyper brand with an unlimited determination and invest the top - notch human, material, and financial resources of GAC Group into the Hyper brand." However, data shows that the sales volumes of the GAC Hyper HL in April, May, and June were 303 vehicles, 618 vehicles, and 359 vehicles respectively.

The poor performance of the new models launched by self - owned brands has also affected the sales volume. In the first half of 2025, the cumulative sales volume of GAC Trumpchi was 146,300 vehicles, a year - on - year decrease of 22.55%; the cumulative sales volume of GAC Aion was 108,700 vehicles, a year - on - year decrease of 13.97%.

Still in the pain period of reform

In recent years, the performance pressure on GAC Group has become more and more obvious. In 2024, GAC Group's revenue was 106.798 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 17.05%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 824 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 81.4%; the non - recurring profit and loss after deduction was - 4.351 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 221.8%.

In that year, GAC Group's non - recurring profit and loss was 5.175 billion yuan, including 4.001 billion yuan from the disposal of non - current assets and 2.355 billion yuan in government subsidies.

In the first quarter of 2025, both the net profit and the non - recurring profit and loss after deduction of GAC Group suffered losses - the revenue was 19.65 billion yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 7.95%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was - 732 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 159.95%; the non - recurring profit and loss after deduction was - 893 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 229.89%.

Calculated based on GAC Group's estimated net profit attributable to the parent company of - 1.82 billion yuan to - 2.6 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, GAC Group's performance may have further declined in the second quarter.

However, the decline trend of GAC Group's joint - venture brands is slowing down. As the brand with the highest sales volume under GAC Group, GAC Toyota sold 344,700 vehicles in the first half of 2025, a year - on - year increase of 2.58%, while in 2024, its sales volume decreased by 22.32% year - on - year to 738,000 vehicles. The decline trend of GAC Honda's sales volume has also slightly slowed down. In the first half of 2025, GAC Honda sold 154,600 vehicles, a year - on - year decrease of 25.63%, slightly narrowing compared with the 26.52% decline in 2024.

However, for GAC Group, which has launched the three - year "Panyu Action" plan, the development of self - owned brands is more important.

At the 2025 China Automobile Forum held on July 11th, Feng Xingya bluntly stated that the transformation of the automobile industry has entered the deep - water area, and GAC Group has fully entered a "wartime state", going all out to fight the three "battles for the future" of "customer demand battle, product value battle, and service experience battle" to help recreate a new GAC Group.

Specifically, in terms of customer demand, GAC has realized that extended - range and plug - in models will co - exist and develop with pure - electric products in the long term. Therefore, based on the technological accumulation of the past decade, GAC has quickly adjusted the layout of vehicle models and technological routes and rapidly launched new products. Starting from 2025, GAC will continuously introduce multiple extended - range and plug - in models. In August, the extended - range version of the GAC Hyper HL will be officially launched and delivered.

In terms of product value, GAC has achieved the full installation of the urban NDA intelligent assisted driving system in GAC Hyper, GAC Trumpchi, and GAC Aion and strives to launch the first mass - produced L4 highly autonomous driving vehicle in 2025. At the same time, GAC has released the "GAC Xingling Safety Protection System".

In terms of service experience, GAC is fully introducing the IPMS (Integrated Product Marketing and Sales) system. With this as the core, it is comprehensively deepening the new customer experience of the "marketing golden triangle" of "direct connection, direct service, and direct sales". To build an integrated marketing and service process system of "customer - first", GAC has re - sorted out the service process and fully introduced the NPS (Net Promoter Score) indicator management and evaluation system.

In addition, the models jointly developed by GAC Group and Huawei are gradually being launched. The Xiangwang series of GAC Trumpchi will be successively equipped with Huawei's Qiankun Intelligent Driving system. At the same time, according to media reports, GAC Group and Huawei are jointly building Huawang Automobile, which currently plans two models, a sedan and an SUV, with power forms including pure - electric and extended - range, and they are expected to be launched in 2026.

Currently, GAC Group is still in the pain period of reform. The poor performance of the newly launched models has affected the sales situation and performance in the first half of 2025. Can GAC Group's self - owned brands create a hit model and reverse the current downward trend in sales? Only time will tell.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Visibility in the Auto Circle", author: Wei He. It is published by 36Kr with permission.