Another month and another new Chinese brand arrives to UK shores. And, unsurprisingly, it’s an electric crossover in the form of the Aion V. British car buyers are arguably more open to seeing new brand arrivals than they have ever been, especially with electric cars, but even this is a bit much.
With Omoda, Jaecoo, Chery, Geely, Farizon, Changan and Skywell all having arrived, to name a handful, it can feel a bit much. So in short, you need something special to stand out – and Aion thinks it has it.
Aion is owned by GAC in China, which you can be forgiven for not being familiar with, but they’ve been building cars since the 1950s and also involved in joint ventures with Honda and Toyota, winning some highly coveted JD Power awards over there in the process. So far so good.
Here in the UK however, they’re still very much a start up. The first flagship store will be in Slough with 25 dealers by the end of 2026 and 100 by 2030. This V crossover will be followed by a small, all electric hatchback called the UT in 2027 then a larger SUV plug-in hybrid.
Aion is planning on packing a punch too, because all models will be backed by what it is terming ‘the Great 8’ which is an eight year warranty, servicing, MOT and roadside assistance. While you wonder just how those new dealers will actually make any money out of this offering with no profits on servicing, it’s undoubtedly a great deal for consumers especially when prices start from £36,450.
AION V – DESIGN
While many will probably greet the concept of yet another new all-electric crossover from an unknown Chinese brand with all the excitement of a trip to the dentist, that Great 8 offer might pique their interest a little and then the V’s design isn’t just another amorphous blob.
The high-mounted headlights have an hint of first-gen Nissan X-Trail about them, with the two bands giving it a good look. And, at a time when many brands are avoiding badging altogether, we quite like the clear Aion branding on the front. There is no grille, mock or otherwise however, so it can seem a little slab-fronted from some angles.
The side and rear are both fairly traditional and we like the two-band rear LED lights echoing those at the front. There’s a purposeful and utilitarian look about it as well that means, de-badged, you could be mistaken for thinking this was a Jeep. In short, there’s nothing to offend and it has some character to it.
The only slight oddity is that in Aion’s move to ensure there’s very few options (more on which later), the chunky roof bars are standard on all models. That’s great for those needing more carrying space, but it feels a bit odd when everyone else is desperately trying to make their cars as slippery as possible and save as many aerodynamic points as possible.
AION V – POWER AND RANGE
There’s only one version of the Aion V and it comes with a 75.3kWh battery and a 317 mile range. Average claimed efficiency is at 3.7mls/kWh and we managed 3.2mls/kWh during our short drive (albeit with the air conditioning on) without any efforts at economical driving.
The maximum charge rate at a public DC charger is 180kW, while 10-80% takes 24 minutes. On the road as opposed to charging performance is ok with a 7.9 second 0-60mph time and 99mph top speed.
All numbers which are ok, but then size-wise (if not price-wise), it’s not a patch on the new BMW iX3 which charges at a faster rate, is more efficient and has substantially more range. Yes, it boasts a considerably larger battery for considerably more cost, but this Aion V is a sizeable family car. It’s not unfair to imagine that it will undertake long family journeys on the motorway where a real world range of 250-260 miles might start to impinge a little on everyday practicalities.
AION V – ON THE ROAD
If there’s one area where many of the new-to-UK Chinese brands fall down, it’s on the road.
Speak to any of the traditional heritage automotive brands and there’s a reason why so many of them do testing on British roads. Our mix of motorways, 60mph sweeping A roads and twisty B roads along with, especially so of late, rough road surfaces, means that if a car can be good here, it can be good anywhere.
Furthermore, British drivers tend to be keener than most too, so we want to feel what the car is doing beneath us. So will they be happy with the Aion V?
Well they won’t be too unhappy that’s for sure. Aion’s engineers admitted that they have tuned the V’s driving characteristics for the UK and it certainly shows. The steering has a decent degree of weight to it and some feel, even if it could do with some more, but this is a family car, not a hot hatch. It’s a good start though definitely.
Where the V really impresses though is with its damping. The overall ride could be a little better, but the damping, in terms of softening out the harsher potholes and road imperfections of our roads, is superb. If future Aion models drive anything like this, that will be no bad thing that’s for sure.
If there’s a weak sport, then for us it’s with the regenerative braking. In short, it’s simply not strong enough. There’s a choice of three modes – off, weak or medium – but off is more of a coasting mode, weak doesn’t feel like much of a step up and medium delivers some level of regen, but nowhere near enough for anyone used to driving an EV. For our tastes, we think it could go at least one, if not two, steps more aggressive. And, while doing so, give us some paddles behind the steering wheel to change those modes – as it is you have to go through the touchscreen menu to change them.
AION V – INTERIOR
Here’s another nice surprise for the V. It’s a weird admission that as some traditional European automotive brands seem to be dialling down their interior quality. With its £36,450 starting price, you would have every right to expect the V to have somewhat lesser build quality, rough plastics or spartan spec levels.
The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. There are heated seats all round, and vented seats up front, a heated steering wheel and roof rails are provided as standard too. The Premium, a £1495 extra, adds leather upholstery, electric and massaging seats and a cool/ hot box between the front seats.
There’s also wireless phone charging, along with a single USB A and single USB C port, with a further USB A port for the back seats too (why there aren’t two is a mystery). There’s also an electric tailgate, panoramic roof and a pull out table tray that’s actually usable and resembles something off a Bentley with smart polish alloy hinges, as opposed to the usual plastic useless versions you usually see.
A central landscape touchscreen houses all of the controls, with no physical buttons in sight. That’s a bit frustrating when it comes to the ventilation controls or especially with things like adjusting the door mirrors, though owners are likely to set and forget such items. We found our particular test car wouldn’t connect to Apple Carplay during our time with the car, but by fluke actually found that the voice-activation worked well (one of the few we’ve found that does).
Space in the front and rear seats is good (the latter especially so), with a decent 500 litre boot – 1678 litres with the rear seats folded. There are also shopping hooks in the boot to go with the pair of additional hooks by the front passengers knees – rather oddly in the place where the absent glovebox would go.
In short, there’s a lot to like here and an awful lot of space for the money.
SUMMARY
As you might have already guessed, the Aion V is a pretty easy package to make an argument for.
At this price for this size of car, you expect some substantial compromises and, well, there just aren’t any. Yes as with any car there are niggles, but the V is pretty good to look at, drives well enough and boasts excellent equipment levels. Moreover, there’s the small matter of that eight year warranty and servicing peace of mind too, something that is sure to have plenty of mid-range mass manufacturers looking nervously over their shoulders.
In fact, the only shortcomings for Aion and the success of the V will be that dealer network and ensuring it gets the right visibility in the right places of the country for the right buyers. Omoda/Jaecoo have shown it can be done, with a good degree of success too and we see little reason why Aion can’t do much the same. Watch this space.
FACT BOX
Model: Aion V
Price: from £36,450
Power: Battery – 75.3kWh
Range: Up to 317miles
Average efficiency: 3.7mls/kWh
Average charge time on a domestic wallbox: 8.5hrs
CO2 emissions: 0g/km
Rating: 8/10