GAC Group


GAC Group is a Chinese automobile maker headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and a subsidiary of Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group.
GAC sells passenger cars under the Trumpchi brand, passenger cars and commercial vehicles under the Gonow brand, SUVs under the Changfeng Motor brand, electric cars under the Aion brand, and buses under the GAC Bus brand. GAC produced 728,000 vehicles in 2012, and is the tenth largest in volume. It is the sixth-largest producer of passenger cars among Chinese automakers. While the company is primary focused on consumer vehicles, it does make large passenger buses and commercial trucks.
GAC is currently known for its Honda-branded auto producing joint venture with this Japanese automaker, but the company has a total of five foreign partners—more than most Chinese automakers. These partnerships allow it to produce foreign-branded products for sale in China. These brands include: Fiat, Honda, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Toyota. Other brand names associated with GAC are Everus, for consumer vehicles, and Hino.

History

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. was founded in 1955, and in 2005 become a holding of Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group and a joint-stock company. As of 2009 it was the 6th-largest automaker in China.
In 2009, the company acquired 29% of the Chinese sport-utility vehicle maker Changfeng Automobile, becoming its biggest shareholder. GAC purchased the remaining portion of Changfeng in 2011 completing its acquisition of the company.
Previously a backdoor listing via Denway Motors, GAC became listed under its own name on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2010. In that year shareholders of Denway Motors approved its privatization by GAC. Denway Motors was subsequently delisted on 25 August 2010 and replaced by Guangzhou Automobile Group on 30 August 2010 via stock swap.
In late 2010 GAC purchased 51% ownership of Gonow, a midsize Chinese automaker of sport-utility vehicles, subcompacts, and pickup trucks.
In December 2010 GAC launched the new Trumpchi marque. Its initial product was based on the Alfa Romeo 166.
In 2010 GAC was among the ten largest Chinese carmakers reaching number six and selling 724,200 vehicles.
2011 saw the company retain its position as the sixth-largest Chinese automaker by production volume, with GAC making 740,400 vehicles in that year.
In early 2012, the company was listed on the Shanghai Stock exchange.

Subsidiaries and divisions

GAC New Energy

The GAC New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. is the NEV arm of GAC. GAC New Energy produces their own EV brand, Aion, and sells the EV and PHEV Trumpchi models.
Vehicles built by and sold by GAC NE:
Vehicles built by Trumpchi and sold by both Trumpchi and GAC NE:
In 2009, GAC owned 29% ownership of this SUV-maker a purchase supposedly imposed by the Chinese state as a condition of a then-upcoming joint venture with Fiat. GAC completed its acquisition of Changfeng in 2011. In 2012 Changfeng Group began moves to re-enter the vehicle business culminating in the move to a new headquarters in Changsha in January 2013 and the establishment of a new subsidiary, Hunan Liebao Automobile Co. Ltd., alongside the continuing Anhui Changfeng Yangzi Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd., to oversea manufacturing and marketing of vehicles under the Liebao or "Leopaard" brand.

Gonow

Gonow is a Chinese manufacturer of automobiles, commercial vehicles and SUV's headquartered in Taizhou, Zhejiang and a subsidiary of GAC Group. It markets its products under the brand name GAC Gonow in China and as Gonow in other markets.

Trumpchi

Trumpchi is an automotive marque owned by GAC Group which was launched in December 2010. The following Trumpchi vehicles are currently available in China:

GAC New Energy (Aion)

Guangqi Honda (Everus)

Changfeng (Leopaard)

Gonow

Trumpchi

Current joint ventures

GAC Fiat Chrysler

signed on to a joint venture with GAC on 6 July 2009, and GAC FIAT Automobiles Co Ltd was incorporated on 9 March 2010. The new company has a production base in Changsha, Hunan Province, that opened on 28 June 2012 to manufacture the Dodge Dart-based Fiat Viaggio.

GAC Honda

Guangqi Honda is a 50:50 joint venture between GAC and Honda, which has been making a number of Honda-branded vehicles for the Chinese market since 1999. In 2011 it started sales of its own brand, Everus.

GAC Mitsubishi

GAC Mitsubishi Motors is a joint venture between GAC and the Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It became operational in September 2012 following a late 2010 memorandum of understanding.

GAC Toyota

GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. is a 50:50 joint venture between GAC and Toyota Motor Company which manufactures Toyota vehicles for the Chinese market. It was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Guangzhou.

Former joint ventures

Guangzhou Isuzu

Guangzhou Isuzu Bus Co., Ltd. is a coach manufacturing joint venture between GAC, Isuzu Motors and Isuzu Investment Co., Ltd. that was established on 6 March 2000. Isuzu light trucks and buses were also built by Guangzhou Yangcheng Automobile, a joint venture with Hong Kong China Lounge Logistics. Their light trucks are based on the Isuzu Elf and are marketed under the "YCACO" brand. Yangcheng's various bus building operations were merged with Guangzhou Isuzu Bus and Denway into the Guangzhou Bus Co., Ltd. in September 2008. At the same time, Guangzhou Yangcheng's truck making arm was merged into Guangzhou Hino.

Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile

One of the first Sino-western joint venture auto-making companies, Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Co. Ltd. is a joint venture set up by PSA Peugeot Citroën and the Guangzhou Municipal government between 1985 and 1997. Over its eleven-year lifespan, the company produced about 100,000 cars.
Sales began in 1989 mainly as automobiles for government officials and taxis. Its model line comprised the Peugeot 505 and 504.

Markets outside of China

In 2015, GAC Group partnered with Doha Marketing and Services Company, to market and sell their vehicles to the local customers.

On November 7, 2018, GAC Group entered the Philippines, with President Rodrigo Duterte welcoming the partnership between the manufacturer and distributor Legado Motors Inc., which is owned by Narvacan Mayor Chavit Singson.
In 2018, GAC Group partnered with Al Jomaih Automotive to launch the GAC Group manufactured vehicles in Saudi Arabia.
On December 9, 2019, GAC Group launched their GAC Motor brand and the Trumpchi GS8 SUV, in Russia.
In Lebanon, the GAC Group's Trumpchi GS8 SUV is sold by Bazerji Motors Sal.
GAC Group has been very vocal about their US expansion plans. They were initially planning to launch their first product for the US market: Trumpchi GS8 SUV, by late 2019, but, during the 2019 Detroit Auto Show they announced delays to their sales plans to the first half of 2020. On May 22, 2019, due to the worsening China-US trade tensions, an indefinite postponement of their US market plans was announced.

Sponsorships

GAC was the sponsor of the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships held in Rotterdam and the title sponsor of the 2012 ITTF World Tour.
GAC was the title sponsor of the 2013 World Team Cup Table Tennis tournament held in its home city of Guangzhou.