Add GAC Motor to the growing cadre of Chinese automakers establishing operational hubs in Orange County.
The 10-year-old carmaker, a division of China’s Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Motor Co., said last week that it will set up its North American sales operations in Irvine.
The Irvine location will handle branding, marketing, product planning and financial affairs for GAC Motor, according to the company, which announced its plans during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
A specific address for the office was not immediately disclosed, nor the amount of local hires the company plans to make.
State filings show the GAC’s North American headquarters as being registered in Mountain View.
Company executives indicated to trade publication Auto News that they’re looking to launch sales in the U.S. by 2020, although specific timing remains in doubt due to the U.S. government’s ongoing trade disputes with China and resulting tariffs on its cars.
GAC—which showed off a three-row electric concept vehicle called the Entranze at the auto show—also plans to open a 50,000-square-foot research and development site in Michigan, as well as an R&D facility in Silicon Valley.
Its first product in the U.S. is likely to be a crossover vehicle, according to reports from the trade show. It also plans to “develop a family of sedans, crossovers, SUVs and minivans” to market in the U.S., according to the Auto News report.
GAC Motor, which operates in 16 countries, bills itself as China’s fastest-growing automaker. Last year, it reported year-over-year growth in the 20% range, although specific sales totals were undisclosed.
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GAC Motors joins Chinese firm Zotye Automobile International Co. among newcomers to the area. Zotye said last year it planned to use Lake Forest-based distribution company HAAH Automotive Holdings to sell its vehicles in the U.S. by 2020.
It followed that with plans in November to set up a U.S. dealer network under the Zotye USA name, which will “handle all sales, distribution, parts and service for Zotye vehicles in the United States,” it said.
The vehicles will “initially be imported from China,” where the company has manufacturing and operations facilities in nine cities.
The stated goal of Zotye USA, pronounced Zoh-tay, is to sell more than 10,000 cars at nearly 350 U.S. dealerships.
Zotye, formed in 1998, employs about 30,000 people.
Irvine’s Karma Automotive LLC—whose parent company Wanxiang Group Corp. is the largest China-based automotive components company—ranks No. 19 on this week’s Business Journal list of largest foreign-owned companies in OC (see page 13).
It’s not just Chinese automakers bringing new jobs to the area.
Michigan-based electric car company Rivian Automotive LLC, which is building an all-electric pickup truck, last year took the wraps off a new research and development facility in Irvine.
The 19,000-square-foot office held about 100 employees as of late last year.
Rivian’s electric-power truck is estimated to travel more than 400 miles on a single charge and can tow 11,000 pounds with its all-electric powertrain.
