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Hitting all the most popular vehicle segments is key to its plans for massive expansion in Australia, GAC says, small SUVs and hatchbacks are just the beginning.
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Chinese car brand GAC is ramping up its plans to dominate the Australian new-car market, promising 10 all-new models will launch here over the next couple of years.
Last year, GAC, which stands for Guangzhou Automobile Group, said it planned to bring eight new models in two years. However, it has now boosted that number to 10, targeting all of the most popular vehicle segments.
So far, the manufacturer has four vehicles in-market: the M8 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) people-mover, Emzoom small SUV, Aion V electric medium SUV, and freshly-launched Aion UT electric hatch.
As previously reported by Drive, GAC has confirmed an electric ute will be coming to Australia in 2027, but as it doesn’t have such a vehicle in its current portfolio, little is known about it other than it’s based on the Pickup 01 shown here.
At the launch of the Aion UT this week, Kevin Shu, Chief Executive Officer of GAC Australia, told Drive that all 10 vehicles would be new models and not facelifts of the four that are here already.
“The market is signalling very clear,” he said. “More than 60 per cent [of new-car sales] are medium SUVs, 20 per cent for pick-up [utes], and then other passenger cars, and people-movers. But most [demand] is for SUVs and pick-ups. This is 100 per cent linked with GAC’s product planning.
“For next year, we have another three models: a big-class SUV, plus pick-up, and then two years after 2028, 2029, one more new model [in each year]. This is why we can promise to the market that within five years, we will have more than 10 new models.”
GAC already has two of the four most popular vehicle segments covered, with at least one small and medium SUV offering in Australia, leaving large SUVs and utes to conquer.
Year-to-date, in typical form, medium SUVs lead the way with 42,697 sales according to VFACTS data, followed by combined 4x4 and 4x2 utes on 33,692, and small SUVs on 30,411.
Large SUVs have accounted for 23,092 sales through the end of February in 2026.
In its 18-strong global line-up, GAC has the S7 PHEV and GS8 large SUVs, one of which could be on the cards for Australia soon to fill that gap.
The S7 is a luxury-focused five-seat plug-in hybrid aimed at families and professionals. It uses a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine combined with either one or two electric motors, depending on the variant, offering a 205km electric driving range rating.
The GS8, meanwhile, is a petrol-only premium seven-seater that uses a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission, with options for front- or all-wheel drive.
Also previously mooted for our market was the E9 plug-in hybrid people-mover, but that has not yet come to pass.
"Going into 2027, we're doing a large EV [electric] SUV ... and then we're doing [another] large SUV, which will be a hybrid range-extender or PHEV," Jason Pecotic, chief operating officer of GAC Motor Australia, previously told Drive.
What the large EV he referred to there is not yet known, and GAC doesn't already have one in its line-up.
The new model onslaught is part of GAC’s ambition to become a top-10 best-selling brand locally within five years, with annual sales of more than 40,000 units, although Shu told Drive that selling 10-15,000 vehicles each month would be his measure of success.
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A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
