On September 5th, 2019, GAC Toyota iA5 was officially launched in Chengdu. There are two points worth mentioning about this car: first, it is a model under GAC Toyota with the “G” logo; second, it is the first pure electric sedan under GAC Toyota.
Let’s talk about the “G” logo first. It is known that GAC Aion S and GAC Toyota iA5 are twins, but not many people know about the brand background behind them. In October 2016, GAC Toyota adopted a brand-new dual logo, replacing the Toyota “bullhead” with the GAC “G” and placing them side by side.
According to GAC Toyota, “changing the logo is a long-term strategic development requirement of the joint venture. It is the result of the high cooperation and trust between shareholders GAC Group and Toyota Motor Corporation, in line with the national policy spirit of encouraging joint venture enterprises to develop independent brands, and conducive to sharing shareholder resources and achieving win-win development.”
However, from the consumer’s point of view, the parallel display of the two logos is a signal that GAC’s independently developed models will also be produced in GAC Toyota’s factory and delivered to consumers through GAC Toyota’s channels, given the right opportunity. And the iA5 is such a model.
Now the question is, why iA5?
On November 16th, 2018, GAC New Energy officially released Aion S at the 16th Guangzhou Motor Show. More noteworthy than this car is the second-generation GEP pure electric platform under GAC.
Before this, many pure electric models were developed based on internal combustion engine platforms. Why should you develop a pure electric vehicle on an internal combustion engine platform? In the era of industry transformation, most transnational automotive giants are constrained by factors such as team and financial resources, and would on one hand layout pure electric platforms, and on the other hand develop pure electric vehicles based on existing fuel vehicle platforms as a transition to achieve better cost control.
As we stand in the year 2019, a turning point in the industry, you can see that many luxury brands’ first pure electric models are converted from fuel vehicles. On this issue, GAC Toyota iA5, or GAC Toyota, planted the tree early and enjoyed the advantages brought by the pure electric platform in the layout of the powertrain.Many oil-to-electric conversion cars have high chassis or raised midsections, but this problem doesn’t exist on the GAC Toyota iA5. As a compact sedan, the GAC Toyota iA5 controls the space, especially the comfort of the rear seats, very well. The highly integrated three-electric system (motor, control, and battery) hardly affects the space.
Another detail that proves the GAC Toyota iA5 is a pure electric car is that the wind resistance is well-controlled. The lower the wind resistance, the lower the energy consumption; the lower the energy consumption, the longer the range. The wind resistance of the GAC Toyota iA5 is 0.245 Cd, second only to the Tesla Model 3. This is one of the key factors that allows the iA5 to achieve a NEDC range of 510 kilometers (currently the No.1 range for joint venture pure electric cars).
Apart from the platform and powertrain, design is also a part where the iA5 stands out. The chief designer of the iA5, Zhang Fan, and the interior designer, Zi Mo, are former colleagues at Mercedes-Benz Design Center in Germany. With such professional and experienced designers on board, there should be no major bugs in the iA5’s interior design.
Looking at the interior of the iA5, the two keywords are luxury and technology. Firstly, luxury doesn’t always mean the same as “luxury car”; instead, it highlights exceptional design compared to cars of the same level. Upon sitting in the iA5, you can clearly feel the high-end and minimalistic style achieved by the straight and smooth lines, delicate stitching, and suede-like materials.
Additionally, the combination of dual 12.3-inch full LCD instrument panel and central control screen, floating central armrest, and sport-style fully-wrapped seats show that the GAC Toyota iA5 aims to please young people with its technological features.
You may be thinking that the GAC Toyota iA5 and Aion S seem no different, but in fact, this is a widespread misconception rooted in the minds of consumers.The long-range versions of the GAC Toyota iA5 and Aion S are quite similar, but their difference in configurations can already be seen in their basic models. The iA5 comes with a lot of comfort features as standard in its basic model, such as leather-wrapped steering wheel, power seats, LED DRLs, and rain-sensing wipers, which caters more to personal and family-use consumer demands than the Aion S. However, a mere comparison of their specs sheets is not enough to completely cover the differences between these two models.
In terms of intelligence, the iA5 is equipped with the T-Box intelligent system jointly developed by GAC Toyota and Tencent, as well as GAC Toyota’s own “Fengyun Enjoy Car Connectivity Service”. Specifically, this is a set of GAC Toyota’s car connectivity services, which includes vehicle safety and security (abnormal movement warning, emergency rescue), remote control (AC on/off), vehicle condition confirmation (condition check, charging management), and car life services (contactless payment, smart home interconnection), among others.
Such improvements can also be attributed to GAC Toyota’s strong and consistent dealership networks. In fact, this is the biggest differentiation advantage of the iA5 over the Aion S: GAC Toyota’s dealership service system. Its nationwide 500+ 4S stores provide value-added services such as reservation for maintenance, home pick-up and drop-off, and 24-hour roadside assistance, which is exactly what the new forces claim as “user-centered” service, right?
Of course, the popular AI voice control, mobile Bluetooth key, and virtual key identity confirmation are all included in the Fengyun Enjoy program as standard features even in their basic models. It’s worth mentioning that, while voice control completes most functions, GAC Toyota still retains traditional independent buttons for some basic functions. This is not just a design problem, but rather a consideration in HMI engineering. It shows that GAC Toyota’s product managers hope to cater to the habits of different users, ensuring a friendly and diversified user experience.
Apart from intelligence, as GAC Toyota President Yu Junbo said, although the development of the iA5 was completed entirely in GAC R&D Institute, GAC Toyota has also made a series of optimizations and adjustments in improving product quality and production efficiency. It is reported that GAC Toyota has completed over 200 improvements behind the scenes in quality management that users cannot see.
From the Logo change in 2016 until the introduction and production of the GAC Toyota iA5 today, GAC Toyota has further realized its enterprise strategy of dual-brand empowerment. However, in the long run, the iA5 is just one step in GAC Toyota’s accelerated electrification field.
On May 6, 2019, GAC Group announced a joint investment of RMB 11.33 billion with Toyota to expand its new energy vehicle production capacity to 400,000 units per year. In September 2019, GAC Group and Toyota further deepened their partnership by signing a strategic cooperation framework agreement in the field of electrification and smart connected vehicles, which deepens cooperation in the field of electrified vehicles, including new energy vehicles, and smart-connected vehicles.
We don’t know the motives behind the consensus reached between the shareholders of GAC-Toyota on dual-brand driving three years ago. But from the perspective of the industry’s strong transformation at present, the dual-brand driving has made GAC-Toyota’s transformation into new energy vehicles orderly, making it stand out among many multinational car companies. We believe that in the future, the successive launch of high-quality models by both shareholders will enable GAC-Toyota to form a complete and comprehensive pure electric product matrix.
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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.