Chinese brand says new small electric hatch is safest in segment, expects five-star safety score

The local boss of Chinese newcomer GAC says the Aion UT electric hatch is the safest small car you can buy, as the brand prepares to submit its newest model for ANCAP testing.

The Aion UT is the fourth model to join the GAC lineup in Australia, following the petrol-powered Emzoom small SUV, electric Aion V mid-size SUV, and plug-in hybrid M8 people mover. Priced from $30,990 drive-away (for a limited time only), it's positioned to compete with the BYD Dolphin and GWM Ora.

Both the Dolphin and Ora wear full five-star ANCAP ratings, but GAC Australia CEO Kevin Shu says the Aion UT is safer than both, in addition to other key competitors.

"Aion UT is the safest car in the segment," Mr Shu told CarExpert at the local launch of the Aion UT in Gosford, New South Wales.

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"The structure and the material usage is better than other competitors. We provide side curtain airbag coverage that is more than 2.1 metres long."

"Aion UT is five-star Euro NCAP," added Masato Katsumata, GAC International CTO.

"The car tested here has the same structure, so we believe that [it will get five-star ANCAP]."

While GAC representatives are supremely confident in the UT's safety, their words aren't yet backed up by an official Euro NCAP or ANCAP safety rating.

That's set to change later this year, with GAC planning to submit the Aion UT for testing after bringing its eCall system online. Now a key element of ANCAP's assessment criteria, eCall is an in-car technology designed to automatically connect occupants with emergency services following a crash.

"As far as ANCAP test is concerned, there's only one thing that's somewhat delayed us, and that's the eCall function," explained GAC Australia director of aftersales Andrew Ratajczak.

"This is a new box you need to tick to be able to get the full rating, we're aware of that.

"So, the hardware is in the car and we're working with a partner in telematics to help us get that working, but by the time we get everything sorted... you're probably looking at around November.

"We really want that in the car before we go testing."

News of the Aion UT's likely five-star ANCAP rating follows a spate of low scores for small economy cars.

After launching in June 2024, the fourth-generation Suzuki Swift initially scored a one-star ANCAP safety rating, with physical crash testing revealing stark discrepancies in crash performance between the Australian- and New Zealand-delivered model versus the three-star rated car sold in Europe.

Suzuki Australia then updated the specification of the Swift to align it with its European equivalent, and subsequently had the vehicle re-tested and re-rated by ANCAP in August 2025, resulting in an improvement to three stars.

MG also faced criticism last year after Euro NCAP testing of the MG 3 light hatchback, which exposed a driver’s seat latching mechanism failure that caused the driver’s seat to twist partway through a frontal offset impact.

That prompted then-local boss Peter Ciao to declare all future MG models would arrive in Australia with a five-star safety rating.

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