GAC's 30 Million Report: Not Harvesting Through Price Wars, But Accumulating Through Quality and Diligence

July 16, inside the GAC Trumpchi factory in Panyu, Guangzhou, a right-hand drive Trumpchi M8 PHEV slowly drove off the production line. This car had no exaggerated livery, nor the complex ceremony of a red carpet, but its appearance brought a certain weight to the air of the entire scene. This is the 30 millionth vehicle produced by GAC Group.

When GAC Group Chairman Feng Xingya handed the keys to Thai owner Tony Jaa, the moment captured in the camera was not merely a warm interaction between GAC representatives and users. In 2026, a year when industry price wars raged fiercely and competition evolved from 'fighting over prices' to 'fighting over leadership', GAC offered a different narrative through its 29-year milestone.

At a time when many shout "long-termism" while engaging in short-term games, GAC's 30 million might be the most substantial interpretation of these four characters.

30 Million Units Produced, GAC Turns the Home Field into a "Global Showcase"

This production line ceremony was not turned into a dull marathon of leadership speeches, but instead had a hard-core tech-style romance. The most intuitive feeling on site was: GAC is no longer just Guangzhou's GAC.

At the event site, GAC connected multiple global production bases simultaneously. As vehicles numbered from 29,999,995 to 29,999,999 appeared sequentially in a "cloud reveal", the GAC Honda P7, GAC Toyota bZ7, Qijing GT7, Aion N60, and Hyper S600 all took the stage. Finally, the right-hand drive Trumpchi M8 PHEV in the center of the stage made its grand finale appearance as the 30 millionth vehicle.

Choosing the right-hand drive M8 PHEV as a milestone model is itself a strong signal that GAC's ambition long ago was no longer limited to the domestic market. In the first half of this year, GAC's independent brand export volume reached 121,500 vehicles, up 132% year-on-year, almost matching last year's full-year level. Thailand's June sales surged 207% month-on-month, and the European market is also building a full-chain operational system from production to sales.

30 million users are not just the result of Chinese car owners voting with their feet, but also the recognition of the "Made in China Intelligence" by markets in 110 countries and regions worldwide.

Building cars is not a 100-meter sprint, but a never-ending marathon

Of course, marketing can tell stories, but a volume of 30 million cannot be sustained by marketing alone. In GAC's narrative, the most critical underlying logic supporting this number is quality.

At the event site, a sentence from Feng Xingya left a deep impression: "Quality is the bottom line GAC will never yield." When spoken by GAC, this sentence is indeed persuasive. In the wave of the industry pursuing "cost reduction and efficiency improvement", many car companies do subtraction where it cannot be seen to compress costs, but GAC continues to do addition in quality verification.

Before each new car launches, GAC requires at least two winters and one summer of on-site road testing; the regular steady cycle lasts up to 21 months; from Turpan's 60°C high temperature to Hailar's -40°C extreme cold, from high humidity, high salt fog to mountains and sandstorms, the "Five Highs, One Mountain, One Dust" full environment assessment covers all extreme scenarios users might encounter.

This "hard work" is also reflected in data: The Magazine Battery has been installed in a cumulative 1.5 million vehicles, with safe driving mileage exceeding 160 billion kilometers; the Star Spirit Safety Protection System has served nearly 2 million users, cumulatively preventing potential accidents 6.28 million times. By the end of 2025, GAC also took the lead in the industry to launch the independent brand "Three Responsibilities" policy, actively guaranteeing the Three-Electric systems, battery degradation, and intelligent parking accidents.

Behind these data lies a simple truth: Quality is not spoken, it is verified.

Turning "User-Centric" from a Slogan into a Closed Loop

At present, "user-centric" has almost become the standard slogan for every car company, but few can truly turn user feedback into a closed loop for product improvement.

GAC's approach includes some details worth noting. The "All Microphones On" activity allows R&D heads to face users directly, converting real car usage pain points into product optimization priorities; the establishment of an exclusive user insight department guarantees user requests are "responded to in every case" through organizational mechanisms.

Hard investment in the service system is also progressing synchronously: By the end of June, 600 county-level outlets have been certified, planned to increase to 1,000 within the year; self-operated charging piles exceed 27,000, core urban areas achieve "a station within 1 kilometer in a straight line"; Online "Super Butler" promises 5-second response, 2-hour problem solving.

These actions cannot be called disruptive innovations, but they point to a more pragmatic logic: Users do not need flashy concepts, but rather someone to repair broken cars, no long queues for charging, and someone to manage problems.

Panyu Action One Year, Reform Is Not a Banquet

Last November, GAC launched the "Panyu Action", moving the headquarters to Panyu, and starting independent brand integrated operations. At that time, there was waiting and also questioning outside. The organizational reform of traditional car companies has always been known to be easy to say but difficult to do.

After more than a year of promotion, results are being released. In the first half of the year, GAC Group cumulative sales were 773,100 vehicles, up 2.35% year-on-year; independent brand cumulative sales were 346,000 vehicles, up 35.69% year-on-year. More importantly, the proportion of energy-saving and new energy vehicles has reached 62.82%. GAC's electrification transformation is no longer a slogan, but solid sales data.

From starting amidst controversy in 1997, to the birth of Trumpchi in 2010 realizing the independent dream, to now Qijing GT7 carrying Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Driving ADS 5 to rush the high-end market, GAC has experienced four leapfrog developments. The trajectory of these 29 years illustrates a truth: In the automotive industry, there are no shortcuts. All "speed" is backed by "slow" accumulation.

30 Million Is a Milestone, Not a Finish Line

Speaking of this gratitude event itself, from July 16 to August 31, GAC's six major brands launched multiple favors around new purchase, trade-in, and additional purchase, covering fuel, hybrid, pure electric, and extended-range power types. This is a return on the support of 30 million users, and also an active layout for the additional and replacement purchase market in the era of stock competition.

But looking from a longer cycle, the significance of 30 million is not just this. In the transformation period of the Chinese automotive industry from large to strong, GAC's path provides a reference: Not harvesting the market through short-term price wars, but accumulating reputation through quality; Not relying on a single technical route, but planning new energy power across the board; Not only staring at domestic share, but actively going overseas to participate in global competition.

This might not be the most clever approach, but it might be the way to go further. 30 million users are not the end of GAC's story, but the starting point of the next 29 years. For GAC, which is currently leaping from "Manufacturing" to "Intelligent Manufacturing", from "Local" to "Global", and from "Car Enterprise" to "Technology Ecosystem Enterprise", the real test has just begun.