July 2026, the Chinese automobile market witnessed an expected in-depth adjustment. The combination of a traditional off-season and the overdraft of demand in the first half of the year caused overall sales to decline nearly 20% year-on-year. Although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles continues to rise at a high level, the industry trend has clearly shifted, returning from "pulse-like" growth driven by short-term promotions to a normalized rhythm driven by real demand.

Under the pressure of the overall market, AION Hyper delivered a completely different set of results. July terminal sales reached 34,987 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 31.74%, achieving five consecutive months of positive year-on-year growth. Since March, AION Hyper has recorded double-digit year-on-year positive growth for five consecutive months.

In the first half of 2026, the combined sales of AION Hyper reached 174,938 vehicles, up 15% year-on-year. Including the 34,987 vehicles in July, the cumulative sales for the first 7 months of this year have reached 209,925 vehicles. Against the backdrop of a nearly 17% decline in the overall market, AION Hyper defied the trend and achieved independent performance.

This is not a matter of luck. 2026 marks the tenth year for GAC AION. Looking back to the beginning of the new energy vehicle industry, there were once more than 400 new energy vehicle brands competing at the peak nationally. After ten years of大浪淘沙 (washing the sand for gold), many brands floated and sank in an instant. New energy vehicle enterprises that have steadily survived for ten years are particularly scarce.

AION is one of the few survivors in this long run, and indeed a leader.

From 4.5 Billion to Nearly 2 Million Users; From B-Reliance to 80% Private Users

As early as 2017, GAC Group invested 45 billion yuan to build a new energy intelligent network industrial park, making GAC AION the core carrier for the development of new energy businesses.

At that time, the annual sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China were less than 600,000 units, and most traditional automakers still adopted the "converting oil to electricity" transitional plan, while AION chose the pure electric exclusive platform route. This decision secured a key time window for the development of AION and Hyper in the following years.

Thereafter, core technologies such as DANXIA Battery, Quark Electric Drive, and full-stack self-developed intelligent driving have landed one by one. The installation of DANXIA Batteries has exceeded 1 million units, and no malignant accidents caused by battery thermal runaway have occurred to date. The world's first new energy vehicle lighthouse factory was completed, and L2 to L4 level intelligent driving technology has achieved full-stack layout.

This "keeping head down and working hard" approach allowed AION to accumulate a user base of nearly 2 million users in ten years. It did not reach today by chasing short-term traffic dividends, but relied on the advantages of the GAC SOE platform, with full-stack self-developed core technologies and a complete independent industrial chain, calmly traversing multiple industry cycles.

However, the growth in volume once masked a structural problem. Early B-side mobility markets accounted for a relatively high proportion, and with this sector becoming saturated, the growth path faced bottlenecks.

AION chose active reform. At the end of 2025, under GAC Group's "Panyu Action" strategy, the AION Hyper BU was officially established, endowed with full value chain decision-making power for R&D, production, sales, and service, truly realizing "letting those who hear the gunfire command the battle". Relying on the IPD Integrated Development System, new car development cycles were significantly shortened, and R&D costs were effectively reduced.

At the channel level, the dual brands accelerated fusion. Sales outlets now cover cities above the 4th tier nationwide, and service networks expanded from hundreds to a thousand-level. Hyper focuses on "Smart Enjoyment Life" for taste and technology, facing the backbone of the era; AION deepens the positioning of "National Good Car" with "Smart Joy Life". The dual brands return to their positions and advance in synergy.

The results of institutional innovation are ultimately reflected in products and user structure.

AION i60 continues to iterate with 200,000 yuan-level extended range technology, with monthly sales consistently breaking 10,000 units, becoming one of the A-segment new energy SUVs that best understands Chinese families; AION N60, with a 100,000 yuan-level pricing, comes standard with LiDAR high-end intelligent driving, allowing young users to enjoy crossover-level intelligent driving experience at an entry-level price. Deliveries broke 10,000 units within just two months of launch, with a very high proportion of young users.

In the high-end market, the Hyper brand simultaneously launched heavy-hitting models such as A800 and S600, equipped with flagship configurations such as Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Driving and dual-chamber air suspension. The path to upward breakthrough is becoming increasingly clear.

More critically is the qualitative change in user structure. In the first half of 2026, the proportion of AION C-side private users had climbed to over 80%. The main sales models have fully switched from the early Y and S series to next-generation products such as i60 and N60. This means the brand has completely gotten rid of reliance on bulk orders and entered a good track driven by real consumption demand.

At the same time, AION Hyper's overseas layout is also accelerating. Currently, it has entered nearly 50 countries and regions, with overseas sales increasing nearly three times year-on-year. Thailand and India intelligent factories have landed successively, forming a global layout with domestic and overseas synergy.

Ray and a "New Venture" for the Young

Standing at the new starting point of the tenth year, AION has not stopped at the existing achievements of the "National Good Car".

On July 28, on the occasion of the brand reaching its full ten years, there was no grand celebration; instead, there was a dynamic move—launching a completely new independent car series Ray. "Ray" originally means light, the unique light on young people; the corners of the mouth automatically turn up when pronounced, like a smile. This echoes the lifestyle attitude of young users and implies that AION starts anew with the tenth year as the starting point.

The first model, Ray 7, is positioned as a mid-to-large super pure electric sedan and will officially debut in mid-to-late August. It features a 5-meter-class large body size and a low-slung wide-body posture, globally first to be equipped with a super chassis with chip-level drive-brake integrated architecture, equipped with L4-level shared algorithm LiDAR assisted driving, and will for the first time hang the all-new AION Logo.

This is not only a collection of new technologies but also carries AION's brand narrative for the new decade, moving from "National Good Car" to "Cars Loved by Young People".

According to the plan, AION Hyper will launch multiple brand-new models this year, covering new car series and intelligent models co-created in-depth with Huawei; in the next two to three years, there will be dozens of new car and facelift plans, and the product matrix will see intensive renewal.

Standing firm against the tides after ten years, renewing for the new. Years of technical and industrial in-depth farming have built a solid foundation for AION's long-term development. In the cycle of overall automotive market decline, it proved its resilience with growth exceeding 30%; in the wave of industry reshuffling, it used ten years of accumulation to complete the structural turnaround from B-side to C-side, and consolidated the foundation of development with 80% private users.

Channel fusion, overseas expansion, dual brand renewal, new car series set sail... This series of actions together build the system competitiveness of AION Hyper to traverse the cycle.

Now, AION is injecting new momentum for the next "tenth year" with a "New Venture" for the young. Ten years is not the end, but a new starting point. Just like the meaning of Ray, there is a starting point, but no end point.

Epilogue

Ten years is merely a moment in the long river of the automotive industry, but for a new energy vehicle enterprise that has broken through from over 400 competitors and traversed multiple cycles, these ten years are enough to verify one thing, that is, the real moat of the industry is not above the trend, but the solid chassis after the tide recedes.

When the cold wave of the car market in the summer of 2026 came, AION Hyper proved the ability of an enterprise to traverse the cycle with a year-on-year growth rate of over 30%. This growth was not an accidental pulse, but a natural release after the accumulation of ten years of system capabilities.

Standing at the node of the tenth year, the brand new set sail of the Ray car series announces that this long run has not yet reached the finish line. From National Good Car to Cars Loved by Young People, from the domestic market to global layout, AION's next ten years has just begun.

Those who stand firm against the tides fear neither wind nor waves. Because true confidence has always been in the accumulation of time.