It seems that every other week there’s a new Chinese brand entering the Australian market, and it can be hard for even automotive journalists to keep up.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
Tell someone there’s a new brand on the scene called GAC, or Forthing, or Deepal, or Lepas, and just watch their eyes glaze over as though you’re speaking some alien language.
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GAC arrived here last year with the Aion V you see here, a mid-size electric SUV, alongside the M8 plug-in hybrid people mover and petrol-powered Emzoom small SUV; the local lineup was expanded this year to include the small Aion UT electric hatch.
The Chinese traces its automotive roots to the 1980s, although the present GAC Group was formally established in 1997. It established a joint venture with Honda in 1998, followed by one with Toyota in 2004.
That should provide some assurance, as Toyota – with its vaunted reputation for quality and reliability – doesn’t trust others easily.
Toyota even sells a restyled version of the Aion V in China called the bZ3X, so it clearly puts faith in GAC’s ability.
By the way, GAC is an initialism, not an acronym, so you pronounce it as G-A-C. Don’t call it ‘gack’… the folks at GAC, uh, don’t like it when you do that.
To keep things simple, GAC is selling vehicles from all of its brands under one GAC banner in Australia, much like rival GWM – and in sharp contrast to Chery with its confusing menagerie of brands.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
That means this vehicle, known in most markets as the Aion V, is a GAC Aion V; that also explains why it looks nothing like the Emzoom or M8.
Oh sure, its styling is just as fussy as those two, but it’s just fussy in a different way. Credit to GAC for not designing another insipid Tesla Model Y or Land Rover Defender-inspired SUV, but we don’t think the Aion V will be winning many beauty contests.
How much does the GAC Aion V cost?
The Aion V competes in the affordable end of the mid-size electric SUV segment, undercutting top-sellers like the Tesla Model Y and BYD Sealion 7.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
The Premium opens the range at $42,590 before on-road costs, slotting below our Luxury tester at $44,590 plus on-roads. The most obvious rivals are the Geely EX5 ($41,990 to $45,990) and the Leapmotor C10 EV ($47,990 to $50,990 drive-away).
Other sub-$50k mid-size electric SUVs include the MG S6 EV ($49,990 drive-away), and the recently launched Forthing Taikon 5 which starts at just $38,990 drive-away.
To see how the GAC Aion V lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool
What is the GAC Aion V like on the inside?
This mid-size SUV is brimming with features, and has seemingly everything but the kitchen sink… though it does have a fridge.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
The Aion V has a surprisingly upscale ambience and high-quality feel for something that costs less than $45,000 before on-road costs. You’re greeted, for example, with easy-entry front seats that slide back when you open the door, and then return to your set seating position once you sit down.
Given its low price, perhaps the Aion V’s most impressive feature is the compartment in the centre console that can refrigerate, heat or even freeze items.
You can, of course, use it as an ordinary centre-console compartment if you don’t want to leave items in the open storage area where they’re visible to passers-by. However, we found the refrigerated compartment extremely handy, including on a visit to a cheese store far from home.
It can also be left running even when the vehicle is off, only switching off when the vehicle’s battery reaches 10 per cent.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
This is the kind of feature usually found in $100,000-plus LandCruisers or much more expensive luxury cars, and has a level of adjustability that is staggering at this price point.
The optional orange colourway in this top-spec Luxury may be an acquired taste, but you can’t say it’s not distinctive. Personally, I’m a fan.
As with the smaller GAC Aion UT and a number of other Chinese models, the interior is minimalist, with little in the way of physical switchgear.
You get a large 14.6-inch infotainment touchscreen and a slim 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, although there’s no head-up display even in this top-spec Luxury.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
We think it’s a little silly that there are no physical headlight controls, particularly when the Chinese government will soon require them. There’s still a stalk for the wipers and high beam, but any other headlight adjustments have to be made through the infotainment touchscreen.
The touchscreen helpfully has an anchored bar at the bottom with shortcuts for functions such as temperature adjustment for each of the two front zones, as well as activation of the very high-resolution surround-view camera system.
Speaking of the camera system, we love how it gives you the distance to an obstruction – for example, it’ll tell you how many centimetres you are from your garage wall as you get closer to it.
There’s no swipe-down menu on the touchscreen like in many other cars, but there’s a shortcut menu that can be opened by pressing an icon on the footer.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
The infotainment system has quick response times and an exhaustive menu of adjustable settings, while wireless Android Auto booted up quickly and stayed connected without fail.
One complaint about the touchscreen is that, on most screens, there’s no easy shortcut back to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay without pressing another button first.
Poor English translations are kept to a minimum, although trying to switch off the driver attention monitor prompts you to ‘comfirm’ that you want to close it.
Speaking of poor translations, using the voice assistant to close the sunshade also produces the unusual response, “Sun shades is turned off.”
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
The voice assistant can be used for a number of functions and is reasonably intelligent, though sometimes it likes to linger.
The lack of physical switchgear means you have to use the touchscreen to activate functions such as seat ventilation and massage.
The front seats are very comfortable and decently supportive, and the massage system is excellent. It offers five programs and gentle, standard and strong intensity levels. If you adjust your seating position, a helpful prompt appears on the touchscreen asking if you want to save this position to memory.
Everything feels solid and well screwed together. The only issue we observed was a tendency for the leather front seats to rub against the centre console as they were adjusted, resulting in a squeaking noise.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
The sides of the centre console are a mix of slightly soft and very soft trim, so it’s comfortable to rest your knee against it.
Soft-touch trim is used on the dashboard and the upper sections of the doors, though some of these softer sections are clearly a thin layer of leatherette over a harder surface underneath.
Regardless, it all presents well, and we particularly like the quilted leatherette accents on the door cards, which are subtly illuminated by colour-adjustable ambient lighting.
There’s an unusual pair of bag hooks that initially look like buttons for the glove compartment, until you realise there’s no glove compartment at all.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
That’s a fail on GAC’s part, though otherwise cabin storage is good, including an expansive centre console shelf where you’ll also find a pair of USB outlets – annoyingly on the passenger side, though.
The vanity mirrors have excellent illumination and unusual fold-down covers like you might see on a tablet case. Their lighting is almost like a ring light, so anyone using them to do their makeup should find them particularly useful.
The digital instrument cluster is slim but has extremely clear and attractive graphics. It can display information such as tyre pressures, energy consumption and remaining range.
However, the Aion V doesn’t display an exact battery percentage in its instrument cluster, just a remaining range. We’re not sure if this is to minimise your range anxiety, but it’s an unusual omission.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
A button on the steering wheel lets you toggle between different views, including one that displays maps from the embedded satellite navigation system.
Step into the back and you’ll find the GAC Aion V extremely spacious, with ample room in every direction and a completely flat floor.
The fixed panoramic glass roof bathes the cabin in light, but there’s a sunshade that’s thick enough to keep the cabin comfortable on a sunny day. This can be opened and closed via the touchscreen or by using voice prompts.
There’s only a single USB-A outlet in the rear and no USB-C outlets, while the air vents are situated on the B-pillars.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
What appear to be controls for adjusting cabin temperature are actually controls for the refrigerator compartment. Don’t worry, though – if you don’t want your children fiddling with the temperature, you can lock them out via the touchscreen.
Like the refrigerated compartment, the Aion V has another feature usually found in cars costing twice as much: a fold-out table on the back of the front passenger seat. It’s really neatly integrated into the seatback and is both a lovely surprise and a genuinely useful feature.
There’s also a map pocket on the front passenger seatback. While the passenger seatback is largely finished in plastic, the driver’s seatback is finished in soft upholstery and has a more usable map pocket, albeit no clever tray table.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
Open the power tailgate and you’ll find a fairly average-sized boot with underfloor storage for charging cables and valuable items. A cargo blind is disappointingly not standard, although one is available, while dropping the rear seats doesn’t result in a completely flat load bay.
If you were hoping for more storage under the bonnet, you’re out of luck – there’s no cargo compartment up here.
To see how the GAC Aion V lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool
What’s under the bonnet?
The Aion V is offered in Australia with only one powertrain and one battery.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
When we got into the fully charged car, it displayed 470km of range, despite an official WLTP claim of 510km.
GAC claims energy consumption of 16.7kWh/100km, but on a loop comprising a mix of inner-city, suburban and highway driving, the Aion V used 14.9kWh/100km. Over the course of a week, including plenty of highway driving, this dropped to 14.5kWh/100km.
My daily commute is predominantly highway, and I saw energy consumption of as little as 12.8kWh/100km. That’s pretty impressive.
To see how the GAC Aion V lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool
How does the GAC Aion V drive?
The Aion V has a surprisingly polished feel, apart from some driver assist features that need further tuning.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
In many front-wheel drive EVs, the front tyres can be easily overwhelmed and you end up with wheelspin or torque steer unless you feather the accelerator. In the Aion V, however, there was virtually no wheelspin or torque steer. Only once or twice in the wet did we hear the tyres scramble ever so slightly.
When I first got into the Aion V, I found the steering surprisingly heavy for a Chinese electric SUV and soon discovered it had been set to Sport.
You can choose from three drive modes and adjust the brake response and steering effort, although changing these settings is more difficult than in many other cars.
Switching to the Normal steering setting didn’t make the steering disconcertingly light or vague, as you might expect from a budget Chinese electric SUV.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
Instead, it retained a nice amount of weight and didn’t feel completely detached from the road, while still allowing the Aion V to be comfortable and easy to steer at low speeds.
The ride also impresses, particularly for anyone coming out of a Geely EX5. Only on particularly patchy roads does it start to squirm a little. In almost all driving scenarios it feels comfortable and irons out the road surface, while its body control is hard to fault even over abrupt surface changes.
Overall, the Aion V feels surprisingly well tied down and much better controlled than the floaty EX5.
Performance is what you would expect in this segment. It has the instant torque of an electric SUV and no trouble getting up to speed or overtaking.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
At highway speeds, noise levels are fairly low in the Aion V, making this a pleasant long-distance cruiser. This may be due in part to the tyre selection, with the Maxxis VictraSport tyres proving to be good rubber for a number of reasons.
You activate the cruise control not by pressing a button but by tapping the gear selector stalk down once; the Integrated Cruise Assistance, which combines adaptive cruise and lane-centring, is activated by tapping the stalk down twice in quick succession – don’t delay, or it won’t activate. Personally, I think a button would be better.
If you pull the stalk down once to engage the regular adaptive cruise control and rely on the standard lane-keep assist, the system is fine. It feels smooth and not too obtrusive, and you can adjust the set speed using the knob on the right-hand side of the steering wheel.
Integrated Cruise Assistance can follow the lane and negotiate curves, but it feels unfinished because any steering input causes the steering wheel to snap back in objection, giving it a very jerky feel.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
You obviously have to keep your hands on the wheel, but there were a couple of occasions when I felt the car was not exactly centred in its lane. And when I made a small corrective steering input, it yanked the wheel in protest.
As far as systems in Chinese vehicles go, it’s not the worst – we’ve driven some Chery vehicles where this system is unreliable and constantly cancels itself. However, it’s not there yet and it’s not as good as systems in Japanese rivals, which is a common complaint we have with these systems in Chinese vehicles.
The overspeed alert is infuriating because it defaults to on and can’t work out school-zone operating times, so it chimes when you’re travelling above a lower speed limit that applies at a different time of day.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
It’s a pain having to go into the vehicle settings menu every time you start the car and scroll down to cancel it, and we hope GAC comes up with a solution that allows you to quickly turn it off with, say, a long press of a steering wheel button like in Hyundai and Kia models. Changing your drive mode is also needlessly complicated.
The driver attention monitor also chimed at me on a couple of drives, although it was generally good.
The child presence detection, however, created multiple embarrassing situations. On a number of occasions, I’d lock the car and walk away and in less than 30 seconds the car would start honking because at some point I had opened and closed one of the rear doors after initially unlocking the vehicle. This system has a worthy purpose, but it’s horribly calibrated and it defaults to on.
Here we have a Chinese SUV that’s actually quite pleasant dynamically, and yet like so many other Chinese SUVs it stumbles due to poor calibration of its active safety and driver assist technology. Fortunately, the Aion V’s biggest on-road flaws should be addressable through software updates.
To see how the GAC Aion V lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool
What do you get?
There are two members of the local Aion V lineup.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
2027 GAC Aion V Premium equipment highlights:
- 19-inch alloy wheels
- Tyre repair kit
- Automatic LED headlights
- Automatic high-beam
- Active grille shutters
- Panoramic sunroof with power sunshade
- Hands-free power tailgate
- Heated, power-folding exterior mirrors with memory
- Hill descent control
- 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster
- 14.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- DAB+ digital radio
- Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- Satellite navigation
- In-car wi-fi
- Mobile phone remote vehicle control
- 9-speaker sound system
- Heated, leatherette-wrapped steering wheel
- 4-way adjustable steering column
- PVC upholstery
- 6-way power driver’s seat with memory
- 4-way power passenger seat with memory
- Heated and ventilated front seats
- Reclining second-row seats
- 60:40 split/fold rear seats
- Dual-zone climate control
- One-touch up/down power windows
- Sun visors with illuminated vanity mirrors
- ‘Intelligent’ ambient light
- 2 x USB-A outlets (1 x front, 1 x rear)
- 1 x USB-C outlet (front)
GAC Aion V Luxury adds:
- PVC/leather upholstery
- Eight-point massage for front seats
- 6.6L refrigerator
- Second-row tray table
- Sun visors with larger illuminated vanity mirrors
A space-saver spare is optional.
Is the GAC Aion V safe?
The GAC Aion V has a five-star rating from independent safety authority ANCAP, based on testing conducted in 2025.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
Standard safety equipment includes:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Child presence detection
- Driver monitoring system
- Integrated Cruise Assistance
- Lane-keep assist
- Emergency lane-keep assist
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Safe exit warning
- Surround-view camera
- Front and rear parking sensors
- Front, front-centre, front-side and curtain airbags
How much does the GAC Aion V cost to run?
GAC offers a long warranty in Australia, but doesn’t yet have a capped-price servicing scheme.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
However, GAC does provide recommended service pricing. Most services have a recommended price of $199, though some carry a recommended cost of $640.
To see how the GAC Aion V lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool
CarExpert’s Take on the GAC Aion V
Among the growing number of mid-size electric SUVs under $50,000, the Aion V is one of the most desirable thanks to its mix of pleasant dynamics, a comfortable and well-appointed interior, and an enormous features list.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
We’d recommend this over a Geely EX5 or Leapmotor C10, for example, though all of these feature a compelling new competitor in the MG S6 EV.
The GAC Aion V isn’t perfect. The styling won’t be to everyone’s taste. The safety technology needs calibration, particularly the Integrated Cruise Assistance and child presence detection. The lack of buttons inside the cabin grates, and there are some other omissions like the lack of a glovebox.
We’d also caution GAC is a new brand to Australia and hasn’t had enough time to get some runs on the board.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
Nevertheless, GAC’s close involvement with Honda and Toyota gives us some faith in the Aion V’s long-term quality and durability, and the long warranty offers additional peace of mind.
There’s no capped-price servicing scheme yet like most rivals have, however, we expect one to be added in due course.
While we don’t expect you to remember all of the new Chinese brands entering the Australian market, perhaps GAC is one you should commit to memory.
2027 GAC Aion V Credit: CarExpert
Interested in buying a GAC Aion V? Let CarExpert find you the best deal here
MORE: Explore the GAC Aion V showroom
Pros
- Sensational value for money
- Surprise and delight features
- Well-appointed cabin
- Pleasant dynamics
Cons
- No storage under the bonnet
- No glovebox
- No capped-price servicing yet
- Driver assist features need work
