Gac Aion Ut vs Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity

What's the difference?

Chinese newcomer GAC couldn’t have timed the arrival of its Aion UT in Australia any better.

At the time of writing, we were in the midst of another Middle East-related fuel crisis, and more buyers than ever before were considering switching to their first electric car.

It’s a good thing there hasn’t ever been a better time to buy one, especially with price tags getting lower and lower thanks to keen new players like GAC.

The Aion UT, which is a vaguely Corolla-sized hatchback is now one of the most affordable new EVs on the market, and aims to outfox its primary rivals, like the BYD Dolphin and GWM Ora.

But, as you may have figured out by now, newcomer brands can come with their fair share of quirks. So, is the Aion UT the affordable hatchback it needs to be? We went to its Australian launch to find out.

Mercedes-Benz is having a crack at the camper van market with its luxury recreational vehicle, the Marco Polo Activity. Not quite a van, not quite a camper van, this compact pop-top is aimed at appealing to those members of the ever-growing van-life sub-culture who prefer clamping over camping. 

We put an Activity through its paces on daily family duties for a week, as well as a 200km loop of bitumen and dirt roads, in order to see how well it fared as an Adventure mobile.