In the first ten months of this year, GAC Aion's sales have already surpassed last year's full-year total, yet its sedan business has not recovered. In October, the two main three-box sedans, the AION S and RT, sold a combined 6,998 units, down 14% from a year earlier and only half the volume of its own SUV, the i60.
On the evening of November 12, Aion launched the pure-electric coupe Ray7, with a limited-time launch price starting at 114,700 yuan. Aion later announced that Ray7 received 7,256 orders within two hours of launch.
The segment Aion is targeting has just produced two new models selling over 10,000 units a month. In October, domestic sedan retail sales fell 38.1% year on year, yet the MG 07 pure-electric version sold 11,166 units and the Geely Galaxy TT sold 10,483 units. Of the pre-orders MG collected before launch, 60% came from first-time buyers under 30. The overall sedan market is shrinking, but young people spending over 100,000 yuan on their first car have carved out a business for coupes.
For Aion, sedans were once its most familiar business. In 2023, the AION S series sold 221,000 units in a single year, making it the best-selling pure-electric A-segment sedan in China that year. According to insurance registration data, 72% of AION S vehicles that year were used as ride-hailing cars. Many consumers' first experience sitting in an Aion came when they hailed a ride.
In its reply to a regulatory inquiry letter from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, GAC GROUP (GAC GROUP) noted that by 2025, ride-hailing capacity in core cities would be in surplus, Aion's operating orders would decline accordingly, and its private car-purchase business would not yet be enough to support profitability. That year, GAC Aion's sales fell to 290,100 units, with factory capacity utilization at just 54%.
When it launched the i60 last November, what Aion wanted to do was the business of young families' first car. This five-seat SUV shares a platform with the existing AION V, and both the pure-electric and extended-range versions have guide prices starting at 109,800 yuan. According to product general manager Ling Xinxin, the AION V is mainly sold to users in first- and second-tier cities, while the i60 also targets business in third- and fourth-tier cities. In the past, buyers worried about winter range or inconvenient charging near home might rule out Aion, which offered only pure-electric cars. With the i60, the same budget could buy a car that can also refuel.
In October, the i60 retailed 14,158 units domestically, accounting for nearly half of GAC Aion's domestic new energy passenger vehicle retail sales that month, of which 12,296 were pure-electric versions. Giving buyers one more powertrain option ultimately still sold the most pure-electric cars, which Aion is used to making. What really changed was the owners. According to GAC's statistics, as of the end of October, of the 100,000 i60 vehicles delivered in the 11 months since launch, 90% were bought by individual family users.
This recovery also got contributions from other models. By mid-October, another family SUV, the N60, had accumulated more than 20,000 sales in less than five months on the market. GAC Group's production and sales express report disclosed that in the first ten months, GAC Aion (including Aion and Hyptec) sold 326,900 units, up 55.96% year on year. CMBI estimates that ride-hailing's share of Aion's domestic customers fell from about 50% for all of last year to about 20% in the first half of this year.
The gap in sedans is being filled more slowly. In October, the RT sold about 500 more units than a year earlier, while the AION S sold about 1,600 fewer. Adding features and cutting prices on family sedans can certainly win some orders, but what Aion wants more is to get people who would not have considered the RT to come into the store and look at cars. In July this year, well before Geely's and MG's October sales figures came out, Aion released the Ray series aimed at young people, choosing a coupe as its first model.
The Ray7 is 4.96 meters long with a wheelbase of 2.92 meters. On a family's car-shopping list, space and range still have to pass muster. Where Aion took pains to differentiate is the driver's seat. The existing RT is a front-wheel-drive family sedan, and its longest-range version already reaches a claimed 710 kilometers. The Ray7 uses rear-wheel drive and front double-wishbone, rear five-link suspension from the entry version. Based on their respective limited-time launch prices, with a budget of around 130,000 yuan, Geely Galaxy TT's rear-wheel-drive entry model sells for 129,900 yuan, while Aion priced the 702-kilometer rear-wheel-drive version at 124,700 yuan.
Zhang Xiong, president of the Hyptec Aion BU, spoke during presales about the fourth-generation BMW 3 Series he admired in his youth, which he could not afford at the time and never bought. He wants the Ray7 to be "China's BMW in the new energy era." That is a big leap for a brand known for ride-hailing. Fortunately, the customers Aion wants are not that far away. The young families who buy the i60 and the first-time buyers browsing the coupe showroom may have the same amount of money in hand, except the latter want, beyond a family car, one they also enjoy driving.
Zhang Xiong has said the Ray series will later add SUVs, with sales continuing through Aion's existing channels. Over the next few months, more worth watching than the Ray7's initial orders is how many additional sedans Aion can sell with this coupe added to the same showroom. If the RT can retain its existing buyers and the Ray7 can also win new customers from Geely and MG, Aion will have a chance to cultivate another volume model beyond the i60. The last time Aion sold a sedan at 220,000 units a year, its main customers were the ride-hailing market. This time, Aion wants to rely on young people buying cars for themselves to bring sedan sales back.
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