New Aion V joins the Chinese EV SUV bunfight with strong specs and low price

Long range, fast charging, generous space, competitive price – new Chinese car brand Aion reckons its V electric SUV will edge the showroom Top Trumps when it launches in spring 2026.

The V is a 4.6m-long SUV expected to hit 317 miles of range on the WLTP test cycle. And when the 75kWh battery’s drained, 180kW peak DC public charging refuels it from a lowly 10 to 80 per cent in a claimed 24 minutes. Of similarly sized Chinese rivals, only the Smart #5 and long-range XPeng G6 can match this range-and-charging combo, though the Aion V – priced “in the mid-£30,000s” – may be a touch cheaper. 

What is Aion?

Aion is the electrified brand of GAC, or Guangzhou Automobile, hailing from and owned by the eponymous Chinese state not far from Hong Kong. It’s established a UK joint venture with Saudi Arabian autos company Jameel Motors, which distributes Toyota and Lexus cars in the Middle East and electric van maker Farizon in Britain, to bring Aion cars here – starting with the Aion V and the Aion UT hatchback.

Both are pure electric, but Aion Auto UK will cherrypick suitable cars from GAC’s multiple Chinese brands including Hyptec and Hycan. “By 2028, we will launch six cars in the UK, [in multiple] sectors and with different [electrified] powertrains,” says managing director Jon Wakefield, who ran Volvo national sales companies in the UK and Sweden. 

Aion V performance and technical details

It all starts with the midsize Aion V SUV, which Auto Express examined at a preview day in Buckinghamshire. The V is strictly two-wheel drive, with a 197bhp electric motor spinning the front wheels. That’s enough punch to haul the near-two-tonne SUV from standstill to 62mph in 7.7seconds. 

A chassis codenamed AEP 3.0 underpins the V (and its UT hatchback sibling), as well as the Toyota bZ3X – GAC assembles cars in joint ventures with the Japanese giant and Honda. 

The V also gets range extender power in China, with a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder acting as generator to power the battery and electric drive motor: “we’re assessing the market opportunities [for this drivetrain],” experienced head of product Owen Lloyd tells us. Aion also has plug-in hybrids in its pack.

Interior space and practicality 

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The V is a very spacious car, with lots of headroom beneath the standard glass roof (with retractable sunshade) and space for long legs to stretch out in the rear. As with the Geely EX5, the head restraints detach so the front seats can go flat to make a bed, should M25 congestion become too overwhelming. 

The dual-level boot has a large load lip and protruding wheelarches, with a compact torsion beam rear suspension to help free up 510 litres of stowage. That’s about 33 litres down on a Volkswagen ID.4.

Other standard kit is set to include 64-colour ambient lighting, polyurethane ‘vegan’ upholstery and 19-inch diamond-turned alloy wheels. There’s a large central touchscreen with Android and Apple connectivity and logically arranged menus, and that’s before Lloyd racks up 10,000 test miles and feeds back to GAC’s engineers for software revisions. He’ll need to request illuminated steering wheel buttons though.

One circa £1,500 option is set to be an Exec pack, adding massage seats, a cooled/heated centre console box and genuine leather. Hopefully that’ll be less plasticky to touch than the vegan upholstery feels.

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