GAC’s new battery-electric hatchback for sale in Europe may be billed as a global product, but it is the brainchild of a thoroughly European design team.
The Chinese automaker has design studios in two key continents outside of its domestic market, highlighting its global expansion strategy that began with the launch of the Aion UT at this year’s IAA Mobility 2025 show in Munich.
This model, a hatchback targeting Europe’s most popular passenger-car format, was designed from scratch at GAC’s Milan studio drawing on the extensive Continental work experience of its vice president of R&D, Zhang Fan, and now its executive design director, Benoit Jacob, who joined the company late last year.
Jacob comes with an impressive palmarés, having started his career at Renault in 1994 and contributing to the design of models such as the Sport Spider, Fiftie concept car and the production Laguna II sedan and station wagon.
In 2001, he joined Volkswagen where he played a key role in establishing Audi’s advanced design studio in Munich. There he worked on significant projects such as the VW Passat and Audi R8, as well as SEAT and Lamborghini.
A move to BMW in 2004 saw Jacob lead the design of several notable vehicles, including the F30 3-Series, Z4, and the M1 Hommage concept, before later heading the automaker’s electric i sub-brand in 2010, earning widespread acclaim for his work on the BMW i3 and i8 models. By 2013, his role expanded to head of BMW Advanced Design and vice president of BMW Group Design, overseeing all advanced design projects, and also defining the product vision of the group’s BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands.
Jacob, who has won several prestigious awards, including the Red Dot Design Award, most recently spent four years as co-founder of the Byton German-Chinese BEV company before joining the battery-swap pioneer Nio in 2021.
WardsAuto caught up with Jacob at the IAA to ask whether GAC’s use of design studios outside of China points the way to more localized car designs tailored to differing markets?
“We will not stop designing cars for the Chinese market, or at least we will package protect [what is this?] some of the global or European regulations in terms of collision performance or emissions, etc.,” says Jacob.
He tells us that the Aion UT, already being sold in China, is a global model needing only modest alternations to make it compatible with European Union vehicle and safety regulations.
The car comes to Europe as a direct rival to other compact BEVs including Volkswagen’s ID.3 and the MG 4.
It measures 14 ft. (4,270 mm) long, 6 ft. (1,850 mm) wide and 5.1 ft. (1,580 mm) tall and employs a front axle-mounted electric motor claiming 135 hp maximum power.
Its powertrain uses a 60-kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery pack, providing a claimed range of 267 miles (430 km) and a top speed of 99 mph (159 km/h).
In the cabin, there’s a 14.6-in. (37-cm) infotainment touchscreen for key functions such as the climate control plus an 8.8-in. (22-cm) digital instrument panel. The model is expected to reach European markets next year and retail for a less than €30,000 ($35,198).
Jacob says now, global designs such as the Aion UT can be easily adapted to individual market tastes through adaptations to software or language.
However, he leaves the future possibility of designing specific cars for different markets on the table, adding, “Whether we will do more specific cars, why not, but it depends how the company wants to grow.”
He says GAC is targeting an annual sales target in Europe of 2 million vehicles by 2028, effectively doubling its current global sales. “Whatever the outcome, we will have the ability to deliver the right answers because we have a global setup with the design team,” Jacob adds.
On top of the Milan studio and two studios at Shanghai and Guangzhou, the automaker has a fourth in Los Angeles, which “is focused on designing big SUVs,” he says.
Jacob says through design, a single vehicle platform can be modified to appear “radically different in different markets.
“Maybe in China there may be an appeal for more harmony, more simplicity in design, whereas in the European market it might be a bit more individuality with more customization.”
