GAC reveals why Australia is key to its global efforts to rival BYD and GWM and why Chinese brands will keep winning in Down Under

GAC’s Chief Technical Officer Masato Katsumata and CEO Kevin Shu explained one unique dynamic between China and Australia that will keep putting our small market in the limelight for Chinese brands.

GAC has arrived in Australia fast, and as a factory-backed operation rather than dipping its toes in the water via a distributor like BYD or XPeng. When asked why the brand has committed so much resources to Australia so quickly, Kevin Shu explained there were two main factors at play - preparedness, and the value of feedback from more advanced markets.

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“Once we’re successful in the Australian market and then the European market, we can feed back to the Chinese domestic market, giving us powerful planning and marketing to help the domestic operation grow,” he said.

He agreed the kind of feedback received in Australia was essential for research and development to make cars better, even in their home market.

But more interesting was the company’s true advantage over its once-dominant Japanese and Korean rivals, according to the brand’s Chief Technology Officer Masato Katsumata, who was previously a senior executive at Toyota for decades.

“From my experience at a Japanese OEM, typical Japanese companies have to think about the US market first," said Katsumata.

"But typical Chinese manufacturers haven’t got that kind of intention. In the future, obviously [they do], but for the time being we can focus on the rest of the global market. So that means in the case of Toyota or another Japanese company - they have to make a concept for the US market first. So, the Australian customer preference might be close to the American customer plus a bit of the European taste.

“But they have to start with the US and then adjust it to the European direction. This is their strategy, how to develop a car for Australia.”

“But, for Chinese brands it’s different because the base in the US is nothing when it comes to development, so therefore more and more these brands can simply purely focus on the Australian market first.

“This flexibility to not have to think about the US market gives us more and more flexibility to think about customers outside the US - this is another strength of the Chinese automaker today.”

Katsumata confirmed the current tariff structure keeping Chinese brands out of America for the time being meant the knowledge and feedback from Australian media and buyers became much more valuable toward the future aspirations of brands like GAC. 

Despite coming relatively late to the piece in the Australian market GAC has ambitious plans, with the goal of becoming a a top ten seller locally in its first five years, according to Shu.

GAC already sells four models in Australia with the launch of the Aion UT hatchback, which joins the Aion V mid-size SUV, M8 people mover, and Emzoom small SUV. In 2026 and beyond it is plotting a large SUV and a new ground-up ute model to bolster its offering.