Four lidars for everyone, but the wildest GX7 saves one trick
GAC and Huawei put four lidars and ADS 5 into every GX7, but 800 volts and the 10-minute charge are reserved for the 748-hp flagship.
249,900 yuan — and that is where the Aistaland GX7 suddenly becomes genuinely interesting. GAC and Huawei's new five-door SUV costs just 100 yuan more than the refreshed Li Auto L6 at 249,800 yuan. Almost the same money, but there is a catch: the entry GX7 is rear-wheel drive, while the Li L6 already brings all-wheel drive at that price.
China gets three GX7 versions. The rear-wheel-drive Ultra starts at 249,900 yuan, the dual-motor AWD at 269,900 yuan, and the three-motor AWD at 311,900 yuan. Prices and equipment are already listed in Aistaland's official configurator.
And this is where things get serious. The three versions are far more different mechanically than the early teasers suggested. The base GX7 makes 272 hp, the dual-motor model 462 hp, and the three-motor flagship 748 hp and 854 Nm. The latter needs just 3.9 seconds to hit 100 km/h. CLTC electric range is 340, 325 and 385 km respectively, while total range reaches 1580, 1500 and 1530 km. In every version, the 1.5-liter gasoline engine works only as a range extender.
Charging hides an important catch. Early reports made it sound as if every GX7 received an 800-volt architecture and could go from 30 to 80% in under 10 minutes. It cannot. The official table shows that the 800-volt system belongs only to the three-motor version with a 67 kWh CATL battery, and that is the one that needs 10 minutes. The two cheaper cars use an LFP battery of about 52 kWh and need 15 minutes.
At least Aistaland has barely cut corners on electronics. Every version gets Huawei Qiankun ADS 5 Super, 38 sensors and four lidars: one 896-line unit and three solid-state sensors. Full redundancy for perception, computing, communications, power, braking, steering and positioning is also included across the range. It continues the same GAC-Huawei technology push the partners showed with the electric Aistaland GT7.
But one phrase can easily mislead. “L3 architecture” means the hardware platform is prepared for the next step, not that the car may drive its owner around unsupervised. Aistaland explicitly warns that the current ADS 5 remains a driver-assistance system, cannot handle every road situation and requires constant human supervision. City NCA and “parking-to-parking” driving are also listed in the configurator as features of a separate paid package.
GAC and Huawei have already tested L3 technology on roads in Guangzhou, with the GT7 receiving permission for the relevant trials. Yet the production GX7 still cannot be called a car with active Level 3 autonomous driving. The hardware may be ready. Regulation and real-world operation are another matter.
Even the heavily advertised bed that unfolds in 20 seconds comes with a surprise. The official equipment list places it in an optional second-row comfort package rather than standard equipment. Space is hardly scarce without it: the five-seat GX7 is 5099 mm long, rides on a 3070 mm wheelbase and offers up to 2215 liters of cargo room with the seats folded.
For the young Aistaland brand, the GX7 could matter far more than the first GT7. Sales of the debut shooting brake fell from 2658 cars in July to 1100 in August. Now GAC and Huawei are entering the much larger family-SUV segment at almost exactly the Li L6's starting price. The decisive question is no longer how many lidars it carries or how much power it makes. The final price and real orders after the official autumn launch will show whether the gamble pays off.