GAC's Transformation at a Critical Juncture: Suffers a Loss of 2.5 Billion Yuan in Half a Year
Recently, JD.com officially announced that it will collaborate with CATL and GAC Group to launch a customized battery-swapping vehicle model. The plan is to start exclusive sales on the JD.com platform during this year's "Double 11" event.
In the above cooperation, JD.com mainly relies on its existing logistics and general-purpose and industrial product supply chains to provide logistics, procurement, and marketing services for automobile manufacturers. CATL provides battery technology and the advantages of its chocolate battery-swapping ecosystem, while GAC Group is mainly responsible for automobile manufacturing.
According to a query by "China Entrepreneur", currently, this collaborative vehicle model has been launched on the "CATL Chocolate JD.com Self-operated Flagship Store". The page shows that the vehicle is a 5-seater compact sedan with a cruising range of 401km - 600km. Currently, more than 9,300 people have made pre-orders.
Source: JD.com App
There are rumors that the vehicle model resulting from this tripartite cooperation is the battery-swapping version of the Aion UT, with an official guide price ranging from 69,800 to 101,800 yuan. Regarding this news, "China Entrepreneur" sought verification from GAC, but as of the time of publication, the company has not provided a direct response.
Behind this cooperation, it is not only an extension of JD.com in the automotive ecosystem but also reflects GAC's active efforts in seeking transformation and breakthroughs.
In 2024, GAC Group's net profit attributable to the parent company was 824 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 81.4%. In the first half of this year, GAC Group reported a net loss of 2.538 billion yuan, and automobile sales decreased by 12.48% year-on-year. Among its brands and subsidiaries, only GAC Toyota saw a slight year-on-year increase in sales.
Since last year, GAC has deepened its reforms. Specific actions include launching the three-year "Panyu Action", shifting from strategic control to operational control, and renewing its partnership with Huawei. In July this year, Feng Xingya, the chairman and general manager of GAC Group, emphasized that GAC should promote reforms in a "wartime state".
"In the first half of 2025, facing the severe challenges of extremely intense market competition, rapid upgrading of demand structure, and comprehensive reconstruction of the industrial ecosystem, the overall production, sales, and operating performance of our group were under pressure." In the semi-annual report of GAC Group, Feng Xingya emphasized in the chairman's message that to effectively reverse the operating situation, GAC Group should adhere to promoting strategic transformation in a 'wartime state', closely follow the three-year "Panyu Action", focus on the three major tasks of "stabilizing joint ventures, strengthening self-owned brands, and expanding the ecosystem", and deeply implement the three major measures of "transformation, change, and reconstruction" to accumulate strength for breaking through the predicament.
In the new round of reshuffle in the Chinese automobile market, can Feng Xingya, who is in a do-or-die situation, steer this giant ship in the right direction?
Transformation is Urgent
"Currently, the transformation of the automobile industry has entered the deep - water zone, and GAC Group has fully entered a 'wartime state'." Three months ago, Feng Xingya said at the 2025 China Automobile Forum.
Behind Feng Xingya's announcement of entering the "wartime state" is the annual decline in GAC Group's sales.
In 2023, GAC Group's cumulative automobile sales reached 2.505 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.92%. Sales had increased for three consecutive years and for the first time exceeded the 2.5 million - unit mark. However, since 2024, the situation has taken a turn for the worse. In 2024, GAC Group's cumulative sales were 2 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 20.04%. Among them, GAC Honda's sales were 470,600 units, a year-on-year decrease of 26.52%; GAC Toyota's were 738,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 22.32%. From January to September 2025, GAC Group's cumulative sales were 1.1837 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 11.34%. Except for GAC Toyota, GAC Honda, GAC Trumpchi, and GAC Aion all experienced varying degrees of decline.
Since GAC Group's main sales and profits come from joint - venture companies, the group's performance has also been significantly pressured. The financial report shows that in 2023, GAC's revenue was 129.706 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.62%, but the net profit was only 4.429 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 45.08%. In 2024, although its net profit was 824 million yuan, the net loss after deducting non - recurring gains and losses was as high as 4.35 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, GAC Group reported a net loss of 2.538 billion yuan, compared with a net profit of 1.516 billion yuan in the same period last year, turning from profit to loss; the net loss after deducting non - recurring gains and losses was 2.945 billion yuan, compared with 338 million yuan in the same period last year.
The performance of GAC's joint - venture brands is poor, and the performance of its self - owned brands also lacks highlights.
Currently, GAC Group's self - owned brands are mainly GAC Trumpchi, GAC Aion, and GAC Hyper. The sales of GAC Trumpchi and GAC Aion once ranked among the top, but during the transformation process, these two brands have gradually been overshadowed by new car - making forces and new brands of other state - owned enterprises.
Taking GAC Aion as an example, in the past few years, GAC Aion grew rapidly. From 2019 to 2023, GAC Aion's annual sales were 42,000, 59,500, 120,200, 271,200, and 480,000 units respectively. In the new - energy vehicle sales ranking, it was once only second to BYD and Tesla China. However, in 2024, due to the lack of plug - in hybrid and range - extended products and being in the process of transitioning between old and new models, it failed to fully meet market demand and began to face a sales bottleneck. In 2024, GAC Aion's annual sales were 374,900 units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.9%. In 2025, GAC Aion's decline further intensified, with sales dropping to about 25,000 units per month on average, and in many months, sales decreased by more than 20% year-on-year.
To reverse Aion's sales decline, GAC has taken a series of measures, such as launching the Aion S Plus to replace the market of the Aion S, which was labeled as a "ride - hailing vehicle", and launching the Aion Y and Aion V to increase the proportion of Aion's C - end sales.
In September 2022, GAC Aion launched the luxury pure - electric brand - Hyper, and simultaneously unveiled its first electric super - car, the Hyper SSR, with a price exceeding one million yuan. Subsequently, the company successively launched two mass - produced models, the Hyper GT and the Hyper HT. Among them, the official price of the Hyper GT ranges from 219,900 to 339,900 yuan, competing with the Tesla Model Y; the official price of the Hyper HT ranges from 213,900 to 329,900 yuan.
At the end of 2024, after Feng Xingya announced the three - year "Panyu Action", the development of self - owned brands was placed in an important position. In January this year, GAC Hyper was officially independent, on par with Aion and Trumpchi as GAC's three major self - owned brands. In April, the fourth model under GAC Hyper, the Hyper HL, was launched, with a price ranging from 269,800 to 319,800 yuan.
However, the launch of new models has not brought about a significant increase in sales. Data shows that the sales of the Hyper brand in 2023 and 2024 were 8,087 and 17,000 units respectively. From January to August this year, the cumulative sales of Hyper were 8,992 units, still a long way from the annual target of 60,000 units.
Searching for a "Cure"
To gain an active position in the future landscape, GAC has been actively seeking changes.
At last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, Feng Xingya launched the most important "Panyu Action" for GAC in the next three years, officially implementing operational control over self - owned brands. The goal is to make the sales of self - owned brands account for more than 60% of the group's total sales by 2027, and to challenge the goal of exceeding 2 million units in self - owned brand sales.
At that time, the management said that reform, adjustment, and transformation are the only way for GAC. To "let those who hear the gunfire make decisions", GAC even moved its headquarters to Panyu, Guangzhou. In Feng Xingya's view, Panyu is not only a new starting point for self - owned brands but also a new starting point for a new GAC.
Since then, GAC has tried a series of reforms to revitalize its self - owned brands. On the one hand, the management mode of self - owned brands has been changed from "strategic control" to "operational control". Feng Xingya introduced at the end of March this year that as of then, GAC Group had integrated GAC Trumpchi, GAC Aion, and GAC Research Institute, and established four major departments: the Product Headquarters, the Finance Headquarters, the Procurement Headquarters, and the Brand Marketing Headquarters to shorten the decision - making chain and improve decision - making efficiency. In April this year, GAC Group further reorganized GAC Research Institute and the Product Headquarters into a "large R & D system" in order to shorten the product development cycle.
According to a report by Yicai, in June this year, when Feng Xingya responded to hot topics such as GAC Group's reforms, he said that this reform is painful and difficult. "Some reform effects are immediate, while some reforms need to be consolidated for a period of time before the effects can be seen." Feng Xingya said that so far, GAC's reform has mainly done four things - building an operational headquarters, implementing integrated operations of self - owned brands, introducing IPD to recreate the product development process system, and promoting cadre and personnel reforms.
The reform has achieved certain results. In the CCTV program "Dialogue" on October 20, Feng Xingya revealed that after introducing the IPD process, GAC's new product development cycle has been shortened from the original 30 months to 18 - 24 months, and the product development cost has decreased by 10%.
In addition to accelerating internal transformation, GAC is also seeking external empowerment. In addition to JD.com, Huawei is also a partner that GAC places high hopes on.
In March this year, Huawei - Wangwang Automobile, established with an investment of 1.5 billion yuan by GAC Group, was officially established. According to Feng Xingya, the detailed product definition and positioning of Huawei - Wangwang Automobile are led by Huawei, and it will create products targeting the high - end market at the 300,000 - yuan level. The first model is expected to be launched in June 2026. In September this year, the new brand "Qijing" was launched.
"Since the cooperation started in October last year, I basically come here 1 - 2 times a month." In the CCTV program "Dialogue", Jin Yuzhi, the CEO of Huawei's Intelligent Automotive Solution Business Unit, said that in this cooperation, the top leadership of both sides strongly supports it, and the team cooperation is also very close. "We currently have hundreds of people in the on - site team here (at GAC), working together as one."
Different from Huawei's cooperation model with other automobile manufacturers in the intelligent - selected vehicle segment, Feng Xingya said that the cooperation between the two sides is not limited to the product development level but also covers areas such as marketing and ecological services. This new model not only retains the characteristics of being led by the main automobile manufacturer but also integrates the marketing division of labor unique to Huawei's intelligent - selected model.
Jin Yuzhi further explained that in this cooperation with GAC, the Qijing brand will be fully equipped with Huawei's Kunlun intelligent solutions. Secondly, from the very beginning of the cooperation, Huawei's IPD integrated product development and IPMS integrated product marketing services will be introduced. From product definition to final launch and in the process of serving users, Huawei will accompany the whole way. "In the past cooperation models, negotiations had to be carried out for each model, which was very time - consuming." Jin Yuzhi said.
In fact, Feng Xingya has publicly expressed his recognition of Huawei more than once. In November last year, at a media symposium, he said that GAC was relatively conservative in the installation of intelligent driving technology in the past. "It was Huawei that awakened our perception and understanding of consumers' new needs." In June this year, he specially went to Shenzhen to visit Ren Zhengfei at Huawei's headquarters.
However, there are still many uncertainties in the current market environment. Huawei - Wangwang Automobile faces significant challenges in quickly establishing differentiated advantages, grasping the product launch rhythm, and differentiating itself in services and channels.
"We cannot change the external environment, but we can change ourselves. As I often say, we cannot change the wind, but we can change the sail and adjust its angle to adapt to the new voyage." On this new voyage, what kind of report card will GAC Group hand in during this life - and - death transformation?
This article is from the WeChat public account "China Entrepreneur Magazine" (ID: iceo - com - cn), author: Ren Yafei, editor: Ma Jiying, published by 36Kr with authorization.