Article By: Liang Zhihao
Is China’s first supercar really worthy of its name?
With the rise of China’s automotive industry, there are actually quite a few Chinese brands that have researched and even practiced building supercars. Unfortunately, we have yet to see any real successes in this area.
However, what surprised me was that the title of “China’s first supercar” was actually taken by a very low-key brand, GAC Aion.
Is GAC Aion about to “shake things up”?
Yesterday, GAC Aion held its first brand night event after the completion of the mixed ownership reform under the Guangzhou Tower. At the event, GAC Aion not only unveiled its new AI God Arrow logo, but also officially announced its new high-end brand “Hyper Hao Bo”.
Along with the new high-end brand, the first new car from Hao Bo, the Hyper SSR, was also released. The car is positioned as a pure electric supercar, requiring only 1.9 seconds to accelerate from 0-100km/h! More importantly, unlike some brands that only release concept cars or even just PPT, the Hyper SSR has already started pre-sale, with a price range of 1.286-1.686 million yuan. The new car will be delivered as early as October next year.
While other Chinese automakers are still only on paper, GAC Aion has become the first to succeed in China’s supercar field, despite being known for being pragmatic.
A supercar packed with elements
Although this is the first time a Chinese brand has entered the supercar field, the Hyper SSR is well-designed.
In terms of overall appearance, the Hyper SSR adopts a standard supercar body structure, with an extremely low front end and aggressive styled front and rear fenders. The elongated headlights extend to the center of the front end, and the design of the air intakes below is full of the aggressive style of a supercar.
Meanwhile, to further emphasize its supercar attributes, the Hyper SSR also uses an extremely high-profile butterfly wing door design. Seeing the posture of the door opening, I can only say – it’s awesome!
Apart from the front end and butterfly wing doors, the supercar flavor of the Hyper SSR also extends to the rear end styling. In addition to the aggressive diffuser design, it also features a retractable wing, smoothly curved lines on the rear end, and unique wing-shaped taillights, giving the Hyper SSR the imposing presence that a supercar should have.
And underneath this cool and low exterior lies carbon fiber coverings for the entire vehicle. Yes, you read that right. To achieve extreme lightness, all coverings of the Hyper SSR are made of carbon fiber, everything is designed for performance.
At the press conference, GAC Aion did not hesitate to say that the Hyper SSR is aimed at rivals that cost more than 5 million yuan, and if we talk about appearance alone, it does indeed have the power to rival the world’s top supercar brands.
What about beyond the appearance?
With front and rear dual motors and the GAC Aion’s self-developed magazine battery, the Hyper SSR has an impressive 1225 horsepower, and can complete 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 1.9 seconds according to official figures. This number is undoubtedly stunning.
To withstand such tremendous power, not only does the Hyper SSR possess extraordinary body rigidity, with a torsional rigidity of up to 50,000 Nm/degree, it also adopts four specially designed 21-inch tires. It is evident that GAC Aion has put a lot of effort into this supercar to achieve the astonishing acceleration data.
In addition, to further enhance its sports attributes, the Hyper SSR is equipped with an AI racetrack technology that intelligently guides the driver to improve their track performance. Judging from the minimalistic racing-style interior, this Hyper SSR may really be a driving machine that truly focuses on track performance, rather than just a flashy car.
Is it really China’s first supercar?
Although supercars may seem distant to ordinary people, they have always been the most attractive topic for the public. Therefore, many domestic brands have claimed to create “supercars” to attract attention. Unfortunately, no brand has actually produced a supercar.
For example, the Chinese new car maker, Byton, had presented the K50 early on, but although the car had a supercar-like appearance, its performance was not up to par. Similarly, Hongqi has been talking about creating the Hongqi S9 supercar for two years, and although the official claimed its performance was eye-catching, the car has been stuck in the conceptual and PPT stage.
As for the other emerging automaker NIO, although they spent a lot of money to build the performance beast EP9 with an overseas team, it is a thoroughbred racing car that not only cannot be legally driven on the road but also not available for public purchase.
By contrast, the Hyper SSR built by GAC Aion seems to have no problem claiming to be the first supercar in China.
Of course, if Hyper SSR really wants to compete with the strong contenders in the world-class racing car category, it still needs to present actual results. And by results, we’re not just talking about the 0-100 km/h acceleration time, but the lap times achieved on real racetracks.
If it successfully proves itself, and competes on par with the world-class electric supercars such as Lotus Evija and Rimac, or even surpasses them, this achievement will undoubtedly propel the overall technical image of GAC Aion and elevate the position of Chinese cars in the global automotive industry.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.