GAC passed 30 million cumulative owners worldwide this week, marked by the roll-off of its 30-millionth finished vehicle, a milestone it reached in 29 years and celebrated at an owners' event in Guangzhou on July 16.
Read strategically, the number is a marker of something larger than one company’s growth: the point at which a Chinese car maker moves from domestic volume to credible standing as a global manufacturer.
For most of the past decade, the story of Chinese car makers abroad was measured in export tonnage. GAC’s trajectory now points somewhere else. Under a strategy it calls “One GAC 2.0”, the company is pursuing what it terms systematic globalisation: moving beyond simply shipping vehicles overseas to building deeper local capabilities, including localised production, under an ‘In Local, For Local’ principle. The framework rests on three pillars spanning quality, technology and service.
The trajectory is visible in the export curve. In 2025, GAC exported more than 130,000 vehicles, up more than 47% year-on-year, placing it among the top eight Chinese self-owned brands by export volume. In the first half of 2026, exports of GAC's own brands reached 121,500 vehicles, up 132% year-on-year and nearly matching the entire 2025 total in just six months. The 2026 target is to secure 250,000 units and to strive for 300,000. Growth was recorded across all five overseas regions: the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
The infrastructure is scaling to match. GAC's international business spans more than 110 countries and territories, supported by six overseas manufacturing plants, nine overseas parts warehouses and more than 746 sales and service outlets. That footprint is part of the strategy and is irreversible, and reads as permanence rather than opportunism.
The Gulf sits close to the centre of that plan. GAC continues to strengthen its presence across the Middle East through deeper localised operations, an expanding retail and after-sales network, and long-standing partnerships across key regional markets. The pace of growth points to a market GAC intends to build for the long term rather than simply to test.
In the UAE, that commitment is supported by GAC's long-standing exclusive distributor, Gargash Motors, while in Kuwait the brand works with Mutawa Alkazi Automotive. GAC continues to strengthen its presence across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, building its retail and after-sales capabilities to support a growing customer base across the region.
The credibility markers are lining up alongside the sales. GAC's Guangzhou plant is recognised as a “Lighthouse Factory”, a World Economic Forum benchmark for advanced manufacturing. It is the kind of credential that helps convert manufacturing scale into global standing.
“Thirty million is where the conversation changes. It reinforces GAC's position as an established global manufacturer, and the UAE is one of the markets where we’re investing for the long term, not the quarter," said Mark Zhang, general manager of GAC Middle East.
"What we see locally tracks the global picture. The demand is here, and the commitment behind it, service, parts and warranty, is being built to match. And there is more on the horizon, with the all-new GS7 set to join the UAE line-up soon and potentially become the next star on Dubai's roads.”
