When even car journalists struggle to keep up with new Chinese entrants, does the industry have a problem?
I suppose it finally had to happen. An entire vehicle brand has been launched in the UK before I realised it even existed.
Retailers started offering this maker’s cars only four days before I found out about it, but still.
I feel like I’ve failed. The car market has left a self-confessed car bore like me behind to the extent that there are not just models but now entire brands (okay, this one sells only one model at the moment) that can arrive and remain below my radar.
My fault, I think, for having a holiday towards the end of April when, during the week we reviewed the Aion V, I was watching short-oval racing in New Hampshire (Ford Crown Victoria single-make races a particular highlight).
Otherwise I like to think/pretend I’d have spotted the V’s existence. But it continued to skim beneath my consciousness until a colleague today prompted me for my thoughts about one. What do I think? Honestly couldn’t say. A bit embarrassing.
So welcome to the UK market the Aion V, which the internet tells me is a car made by a company that’s part of GAC, or Guangzhou Automobile Group. And, yes, I have heard of that because it’s one of those Chinese state-owned conglomerates that has been around for decades.
GAC is one of China’s top five car makers, producing almost two million vehicles last year, and has joint ventures with Toyota and Honda.
So although the Aion brand is new, the car is unknown and by the end of the year there will be only 25 UK dealers for the V (which, in case you missed it or have forgotten already, is a mid-sized electric crossover), it is not really a shock to find out that Aion knows a thing or two about building cars.
The V, which has 201bhp and a 317-mile range from its 75kWh battery, is by all accounts not bad.
But if I don’t know about it, how are customers expected to? Buying a car isn’t like going on Amazon to select a new electric razor or doorbell camera where it doesn’t matter what it’s called, you can buy one with one click and it will be with you tomorrow. This is spending £36,000.
On the one hand, this means prospective buyers will be more inclined to do some research. But on the other, it also means having a recognisable name is all the more necessary. A car needs a hook, a reason, a story: to be, if it can’t be an actual Range Rover, the Temu Range Rover.
These can’t all last, can they? This scattergun, market-overwhelming approach, like Uber in the taxi market, is bad news for a lot of established players. But sooner or later it will be clear that some are here to stay, and others are not.