GAC Group: the group, its brands and who controls it
Facts checked
- State-owned (municipal)
- SSE 601238
- HKEX 2238
GAC Group dates its founding to June 1997 in Guangzhou. It was restructured as a joint-stock company in 2005, listed in Hong Kong in 2010 and in Shanghai in 2012, and has since built more than 29.7 million vehicles.
It is a municipal state-owned enterprise. GAC's controlling shareholder is Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co., Ltd. (GAIG), a holding company owned by the Guangzhou city government; the exact size of GAIG's stake could not be confirmed from GAC's own filings for this entry.
Three brands are GAC's own: Trumpchi, launched in 2010 for petrol and hybrid cars and sold abroad as GAC Motor; Aion, the electric-car business set up in 2017; and Hyptec, Aion's premium line. The two Japanese ventures, GAC Honda from 1998 and GAC Toyota from 2004, still carry most of the volume and the profit. Three other ventures have closed: GAC Fiat Chrysler went bankrupt in 2022, Mitsubishi left in 2023, and the Hino truck venture was absorbed in 2024. A new brand with Huawei, Aistaland, launched in September 2025.
2025 was GAC's hardest year in its listed history. Sales fell 14.06% to 1,721,500 vehicles, revenue came in at CNY 96.54 billion and the group booked a net loss of CNY 8.78 billion attributable to shareholders, against a small profit the year before. Energy-saving and new energy vehicles passed half of sales for the first time, at 51.60%, and overseas retail sales rose about 48% to roughly 130,000 units.
Key facts
| Chinese name | 广汽集团 “GWAHNG-chee jee-TWAN” Guangzhou Auto Group; 广汽 is the contraction of 广州汽车, 'Guangzhou Automobile' |
|---|---|
| Legal name | Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. |
| Ownership | State-owned (municipal) |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Guangzhou, Guangdong, China |
| Vehicles | Cars, Commercial vehicles and Components |
| Listings | SSE 601238 and HKEX 2238 |
| Vehicle sales, 2025 | 1,721,500 units, down 14.06% year on year |
| Revenue, 2025 | CNY 96.54 billion |
| Net result, 2025 | net loss of CNY 8.78 billion attributable to shareholders |
| New energy vehicle sales, 2025 | 433,600 units, 25.19% of sales; with energy-saving vehicles, 888,200 units or 51.60% |
| Overseas retail sales, 2025 | about 130,000 units, up 48% year on year |
| GAC Toyota sales, 2025 | 756,000 units, up 2.44% year on year |
| R&D spending, 2025 | CNY 7.7 billion; more than CNY 62 billion cumulatively |
| Cumulative vehicles produced | more than 29.7 million |
Ownership tree
- GAC Group (group)
- Aion (brand) Controlled; the share is not published
- Hyptec (brand) Controlled; the share is not published
- Trumpchi (brand) Held at 100%
Who controls GAC Group?
Guangzhou Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission controls GAC Group.
GAC Group's controlling shareholder is Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co., Ltd. (GAIG), a holding company owned by the Guangzhou city government. The size of GAIG's stake could not be confirmed from GAC's own filings for this entry; secondary sources put it near 57%.
Stakes and ventures GAC Group holds
These are holdings that are not outright ownership, so they are not in the tree above. A joint venture is a third company the two parents built together: the percentage is a share of that venture, never a holding in the partner.
| Holding | What it is | Share | Since | What the source says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | runs a joint venture with | 50% of the joint venture | 7 May 1998 | Joint venture GAC Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., a 50/50 company founded on 7 May 1998 as Guangzhou Honda and renamed in 2009. The stake field records GAC's share of the joint venture, not a holding in Honda Motor Co. |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | runs a joint venture with | 50% of the joint venture | 1 September 2004 | Joint venture GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., a 50/50 company founded on 1 September 2004 as Guangzhou Toyota and renamed in December 2008. It sold 756,000 vehicles in 2025. The stake field records GAC's share of the joint venture, not a holding in Toyota Motor Corporation. |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | runs a joint venture with | not published | September 2025 | GAC and Huawei launched a jointly developed premium electric brand, Aistaland (Chinese 启境, Qǐjìng), on 19 September 2025 under Huawei's Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance. Its first model, the Aistaland GX7, opened for pre-sales on 4 September 2026. Huawei supplies software and product definition and does not build cars; no equity terms were disclosed in the sources consulted. |
Brands
| Brand | Held | Origin | Founded | Models | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 埃安Aion | directly | China | 2017 | 3 | 10 |
| 昊铂Hyptec | directly | China | 2022 | 1 | 1 |
| 传祺Trumpchi | directly | China | 2010 | 0 | 2 |
Joint ventures
| Venture | Partner | Since | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| GAC Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 7 May 1998 | 50/50. Founded as Guangzhou Honda Automobile and renamed GAC Honda in 2009. It also runs the China-only Everus marque and built Acura cars from 2016 to 2022. |
| GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. | Toyota Motor Corporation | 1 September 2004 | 50/50. Founded as Guangzhou Toyota and renamed in December 2008. It owns the Leahead electric marque announced in 2014. |
| GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Co., Ltd. | Stellantis N.V. | 2010 to October 2022 | Started as GAC Fiat in 2010 and became GAC FCA. The venture filed for bankruptcy at the end of October 2022, ending Jeep production in China. |
| GAC Mitsubishi Motors Co., Ltd. | Mitsubishi Motors Corporation | 2012 to 2023 | Mitsubishi Motors ended vehicle production in China and left the venture in 2023; the Changsha plant passed to GAC's electric-car arm. |
| GAC Hino Motors Co., Ltd. | Hino Motors, Ltd. | not published to 2024 | Truck venture with Hino Motors. GAC took full control in 2024 and converted it into GAC Commercial Vehicle. |
| Aistaland (启境, Qijing) | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | September 2025 | Premium electric brand created with Huawei under the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance and launched on 19 September 2025. Its first model, the Aistaland GX7, opened for pre-sales on 4 September 2026. |
GAC Group: questions people ask
- Who owns GAC?
- The Guangzhou city government, through the holding company Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group (GAIG), which is GAC Group's controlling shareholder. GAC itself is listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong, so it also has public shareholders.
- What does GAC stand for?
- Guangzhou Automobile Group. In Chinese it is 广汽 (Guǎngqì), a contraction of 广州汽车.
- Which brands does GAC own?
- Trumpchi, Aion and Hyptec, plus GAC Commercial Vehicle. Honda and Toyota cars built in Guangzhou come from 50/50 joint ventures GAC co-owns; those brands belong to their Japanese parents.
- Why did GAC lose money in 2025?
- GAC reported a net loss of CNY 8.78 billion for 2025 on sales down 14.06%. Its own filings point to price competition, falling volume and a negative gross margin in vehicle manufacturing during the shift to electric models.
- What is GAC Motor?
- GAC Motor is the name GAC uses abroad for the cars sold at home as Trumpchi. The badge and the models are the same; only the name changes outside China.
Related
Sources for GAC Group
- BigGo Finance, GAC Group's 2025 Revenue Nears 100 Billion Yuan but Posts Huge 8.8 Billion Yuan Loss; New Energy Vehicles Exceed 50% Share for First Time. Read . Summarises GAC Group's 2025 annual report, published 31 March 2026: revenue, net loss, sales, NEV share, overseas retail, GAC Toyota volume, R&D
- Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., GAC Group official English site. Read . Company profile: established June 1997, cumulative production over 29.7 million vehicles
- Wikipedia, GAC Group. Read . Legal name, 2005 joint-stock restructuring, listings, brand list, ended joint ventures
- Wikipedia, GAC Honda. Read . Founded 7 May 1998 as Guangzhou Honda, renamed 2009, 50/50 shareholding, Everus and Acura
- Wikipedia, GAC Toyota. Read . Founded 1 September 2004 as Guangzhou Toyota, renamed December 2008, 50/50 shareholding, Leahead marque
- StockAnalysis, Guangzhou Automobile Group (HKEX: 2238) financials. Read . FY2024 and FY2025 revenue and net income
- CnEVPost, CnEVPost home page, headline: GAC-Huawei Aistaland GX7 starts pre-sales, touting 4 LiDARs and triple-motor powertrain. Read . Headline dated 4 September 2026, giving the English brand name Aistaland for the GAC-Huawei brand
- CnEVPost, Huawei, GAC launch new brand to target premium EV market. Read . Headline and date of 19 September 2025 read from CnEVPost's index; the article body was not fetched