China Concept Cars: the 2007 GAC AHEV Hybrid MPV

Today in China Concept Cars: the 2007 GAC AHEV, a concept of a hybrid MPV. The AHEV debuted at the Guangzhou Auto Show. It was a great-looking machine, with a streamlined body and a luxurious interior.

GAC in 2007

The original meaning of GAC is Guangzhou Automobile Corporation, a large state-owned car maker based in the great city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. Later on, GAC became known as the Guangzhou Automobile Group (广汽集团).

In 2007, GAC didn’t have any self-owned brands yet. The company made most of its money with two joint ventures: GAC-Honda, founded in 1999, and GAC-Toyota, founded in 2004. When the Chinese car market started to grow in the 2000s, GAC started to get interested in launching its own brand, following the examples of Great Wall, Changan, Geely, and Chery.

To show the world where it wanted to go, GAC launched a series of concept cars from 2007 until 2010. These cars were simply branded GAC. In 2010, GAC finally launched its first brand: Trumpchi, which is still around today. GAC also has the Aion, Hyper, and Hycan brands.

Official images

Before it was unveiled, GAC released a set of official images. On the top left is the GAC Group name, and on the bottom right is the car’s name. AHEV was short for Advanced Hybrid Electric Vehicle. It had large doors, rear-suicide doors, and no B-pillar. Typical concept for the time, but today some Chinese car makers have indeed mastered making cars without a B-pillar.

The interior was wildly futuristic, with ‘floating’ seats, a steering wheel with an integrated screen, a small screen in the middle, and very thick carpeting. It was airy too, spacious, thanks to the large windows and the panoramic sunroof.

The AHEV was jointly developed by the GAC Automotive Research Institute (GAEI) and the Wanxiang Electric Vehicle Company.

GAEI (广汽汽研院), today known as the GAC R&D Center, was founded in 2006. It is a large R&D institute responsible for developing concept cars, power trains, and platforms for GAC’s brands.

Wanxiang Electric Vehicle Company (万向电动车公司) is interesting. Back in the 2000s, it developed all sorts of batteries and other automotive parts. It also made a small series of electric buses and taxis based on existing petrol-powered cars. The company, by that time renamed Wangxiang Group (万向集团公司), became famous in 2013 when it bought the assets of bankrupt Fisker, including the rights to the Fisker Karma. Plans to produce the Karma in China under the Karma brand came to nothing but Wanxiang continues to develop the car.

Debut at the 2007 Guangzhou Auto Show

The AHEV debuted at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2007, alongside another concept car, the GAC 4-door Coupe, which can be seen in the background on the left. The AHEV was painted in a combination of beige and brown, with large alloy wheels. The roof line has a bulge above the front seat, something that was quite common on Chinese vans, but this was a first for a passenger car, albeit a concept.

The AHEV was ‘powered’ by the GAC Electric Magnetic Hybrid System (HEV, not PHEV). It was a front-wheel drive car with the engine and the electric motor all over the front axle. The powertrain was visible under a dark brown see-through plastic cover. GAC did not disclose any details of the motor, so I guess it didn’t have one. The headlights were cool too, consisting of nine LED lights.

The steering wheel looks like a game controller, with handles left and right. The drive selector buttons are located just below the screen (PR ND). The start-stop button is on the right side of the dashboard. High up in the dashboard is a cool curved screen, showing the most important data on an orange background.

The GAC AHEV had two individual seats in the back.

The GAC AHEV has short overhangs. The rear door was hinged at the B-pillar, making for easy access to the booth. It had camera mirrors. The front door panel was see-through as well.

The rear lights run all the way from the roofline to the bumper. The exhaust pipe sits just below the license plate.

Beijing Auto Show 2008

The GAC AHEV was also displayed at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2008, where I met it myself. At the time, GAC was merely known as a joint-venture partner and not as an original-car manufacturer, so the AHEV was a promising surprise.

The AHEV was quite a large car, just under five meters long with a 2.8 meter wheelbase. It was easily big enough for five seats.

The AHEV was displayed on a few more shows and disappeared from view, the car’s current whereabouts are unknown. The design language of the AHEV never appeared in any production vehicle, and it would take more than ten years before GAC would launch an MPV. GAC did, however, develop a series of HEV (and later PHEV) power trains.

GAC released a super cool 1:43 model of the AHEV. I have one in my collection. GAC is a cool company in that regard, releasing scale models of any concept car they have ever launched.

More concept cars soon!