Last year, on September 15, 2022, AION, a new energy vehicle brand under GAC Group, held the "Brand Night and China's No. 1 Supercar" press conference in Xiaomanyao, Guangzhou. At the meeting, Aian released a new brand LOGO - "AI Arrow", and launched the high-end supercar brand "Hyper" and the first supercar HyperSSR.

HyperSSR has two versions, with pre-sale prices of 1.286 million and 1.686 million respectively.

To be honest, I watched this press conference as a joke.

After all, after many years of working in the industry, I have become immune to the rhetoric of "building a Chinese supercar". Let's not mention sales. NIO is probably the only Chinese manufacturer that can survive to this day with this kind of rhetoric. Not to mention, the NIO EP9 pure electric supercar, as the first car released by NIO, is definitely not a mass-produced car (international practice is more than 50 units), and it is also built by the NIO UK team.

It wasn't until I actually test-drove the HyperSSR at the Zhejiang International Circuit some time ago that I was convinced that GAC had really built this supercar.

What is China’s No. 1 supercar?

At last year’s press conference, GAC introduced the Haopin SSR this way:

1. HyperSSR’s acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h is 1.9 seconds, making it the “fastest car on the surface.”

2. The "original two-speed four-in-one high-performance motor" can explode "12,000 Nm of peak torque on the wheel", bringing 1.7G "a strong push-back feeling comparable to a rocket launch".

3. The comprehensive horsepower of 1,225 horses is 1.5 times higher than the F1 competition standard.

A simple summary is that the parameters are indeed strong, but the marketing rhetoric is too outrageous. Whether it’s the so-called strong push-back feeling comparable to that of a rocket launch, or the horsepower output that is said to exceed F1 racing standards, there is an embarrassing feeling of having nothing to say and no work to do.

But in addition, HyperSSR also has an important label, which is that it is made in China.

Not only the complete domestic production line, but also consumable accessories such as tires and carbon ceramic brakes are all self-developed and produced domestically. According to GAC, the domestic self-developed hot-melt tire is a formula developed by GAC and the domestic large aircraft C919 team by picking up tire blocks from the racing track. The carbon ceramic brake and the first domestic large aircraft braker, Huang Boyun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, are jointly developed.

Putting aside these exciting self-development stories, when HyperSSR was put on the track, the first impression seemed to be quite similar.


The exterior design has the sense of power and speed that a supercar should have, and is extremely original. It is difficult to see the shadow of plagiarism or "borrowing" from overseas brand supercars, which is very worthy of praise. Behind the highly hollowed-out carbon fiber wheels are extremely large carbon-ceramic brakes, which look quite performant.

More importantly, the body proportions and posture do not occupy the interior space of the car or make the car look "taller and fatter" because of the placement of a large battery. The HyperSSR's low body posture is no different from that of a mid-engine fuel supercar. Without any explanation, it is indeed difficult to equate such a body design with pure electric power.


It is no exaggeration to say that this can definitely be regarded as a milestone in the design of Chinese brand cars.

Sitting in the car, all interior designs are tilted towards the driving position, in line with the positioning of a supercar. There are no cumbersome steering wheel buttons that integrate a large number of functions in most electric cars today, so everything is focused on driving. The sitting posture in the car is very aggressive. Unlike most electric vehicles that have a raised floor due to the battery, the HyperSSR's sitting posture is so low that it doesn't look like an electric vehicle, which is very surprising.


Up to now, if you only look at the static, HyperSSR is indeed an extremely successful domestic sports car, and can even be regarded as the most successful domestic supercar in history.

But after driving it, things seemed to have changed slightly.

First of all, the power output of HyperSSR is indeed extremely violent. Even if you step on the accelerator lightly, you can feel the extremely strong motor torque output, just like a high-horsepower rear-drive mid-mounted supercar. Even when I step on the accelerator of this car, I am afraid that The fear was even greater than when I was test driving a Lamborghini supercar a few years ago. When I was test driving a Lamborghini, I was afraid that I would crash and lose all my money. When I was test driving the HyperSSR, I was afraid that I would not be able to control such violent power and lose control of the car.


But when I drove the HyperSSR on the winding track of the Zhejiang International Circuit and gradually increased the speed, the problem began to show up.

The first is the strange intervention of the body control system. The power output of the vehicle is biased toward rear-wheel drive, but the body control system may be too conservative for safety reasons. Therefore, after gradually accelerating past the cornering point, the car thinks it is going to lose control, so it will automatically cut off part of the power output. The rear of the car suddenly swings strangely due to the sharp decrease in power output.

In addition, although the carbon ceramic brakes are indeed very powerful and can effectively decelerate this pure electric supercar that weighs nearly two tons, the ABS anti-lock braking system appeared too early. When I brake hard on the straight road before Turn 1 in Zhejiang Sailing, the brakes were only stepped on 1/3 of the range, and the ABS Start to start and avoid tire anti-lock. This is really not a supercar. It is also difficult for drivers with track driving experience to follow their own established experience and seize the braking area before ABS appears to maximize the braking effect, push the straight tail speed to the highest, and complete the laps as fast as possible.

Another thing that makes me confused while driving is the center of gravity of the car body. When driving at high speed on the track, I feel that the weight of the front axle of the car body is very light. Although heavy braking can quickly transfer the center of gravity of the car body to the front section in preparation for turning, the center of gravity of the car body will automatically return to the rear soon. This irregular change in the center of gravity makes it difficult for me to follow the braking into the corner according to my original track experience.

The driving skills I learned from the instructor during the competition license test seemed to be ineffective on this car. I could only carefully follow the instructor car on the track and complete the entire experience with relatively conservative track alignment and throttle and brake control.

The overall feeling is that this car is indeed very powerful, but it is really difficult to control, making it difficult for people to have enough confidence to push this car to a higher level of dynamic performance on the track.

Of course, on the one hand, these problems are related to the adjustment of electronic assistance systems, which can be solved later through optimization software. It may also be because I have no driving experience of pure electric supercars (there are indeed no pure electric supercars in the Chinese i market), resulting in a lack of confidence in driving. Or, pure electric vehicles are indeed not suitable for building supercars. After all, not only For a supercar, lightness is an essential element for any high-performance model. Being lighter means less inertia and more freedom of steering on the track. However, the HyperSSR's large battery and four motors, even with full carbon fiber coverings, and GAC Group has magically controlled the body weight to 1.9 tons, this weight is still a bit heavy for a supercar.


From the perspective of a practitioner in the Chinese automobile industry, I can give high marks to the GAC HyperSSR, because whether it is design or manufacturing, GAC Group has overcome many technical and experience barriers to create such a pure electric supercar. However, if this car is compared with other fuel supercars on the market, apart from the appearance design and power parameters, this car does not have many highlights in terms of dynamic driving experience.

The rise of Chinese automobiles does not necessarily require the creation of supercars

The day before the test drive of the HyperSSR, I had some exchanges with Gu Huinan, the general manager of GAC Aian, and some Haobin staff. During the entire exchange, the most direct thing I felt was that the team led by Gu Huinan was very determined to build a supercar. This was done to prove that the Chinese are also capable of building a supercar.

In today's environment where all manufacturers of pure electric vehicles are turning to improving cost-effectiveness in order to innovate, Gu Huinan's actions are indeed extremely worthy of respect.

But what cannot be ignored is that building supercars is not a particularly rational and good business, either from a technical or commercial perspective.

If we look at technology alone, the technology used to build supercars, in a sense, does not represent the top automobile industry. The high value of supercars lies in their rare high performance, and they are even proud of their hand-made construction. Therefore, internationally renowned supercar brands, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and McLaren, are essentially founded by founders who love racing and maintain workshop-style production all year round. Even now, although these brands have long been mechanized and mass-produced, the quality of their products still cannot be compared with civilian cars for ordinary consumers. In terms of workmanship and durability, it is not difficult for domestically produced cars worth hundreds of thousands to far exceed international supercars worth three to four million.

In addition, the technology used in supercars is actually difficult to transfer to ordinary civilian cars.


In recent years, due to environmental emission limits, the R&D investment return ratio of fuel engines has been directly restricted. Several new supercar brands in Europe have basically put the focus of updating new models on aerodynamics. Whether it is Ferrari, McLaren, or the relatively friendly luxury brand Mercedes-Benz's own supercar AMGONE, they use the brand's research and development experience gained in top events such as F1 to optimize the aerodynamic design of its own commercially available supercars and launch new cars.

In other words, times have changed. Today’s supercar competition on the market does not rely on the acceleration performance of large-displacement and high-power engines as it did in the past. Instead, it relies on the optimization of aerodynamics to make new supercars more controllable and have faster lap times.



This is more like building an airplane than traditional car building.

Because of this, the technical reference value of supercars for ordinary civilian cars has been further reduced. The exploration of aerodynamics in supercars is essentially an involution process with diminishing marginal effects. The final chapter is actually the F1 car itself, so that the new supercars such as Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz are actually the civilian versions of their own F1 cars.

From a commercial perspective, it is as strong as Ferrari, with a net profit of only 980 million euros in 2022. Lamborghini has an operating profit of 618 million in fiscal year 2022. Another well-known supercar company, McLaren, has suffered losses all year round.

Such a business model can be said to be too inefficient compared to mature civilian vehicle companies. BYD's net profit in 2022 is RMB 16.622 billion, equivalent to 2.15 billion euros, which is almost two Ferraris. Toyota's net profit in 2022 is US$25.363 billion, which is basically equivalent to more than 20 Ferraris.

So you see, in the business world, manufacturing a family car that sells for more than 100,000 yuan is actually not ugly, and building a supercar that sells for several million yuan is not that noble or wealthy.

In the era of electric vehicles, Chinese car companies have outshone international big names in the Chinese market. They are far ahead in both technology and sales. However, it is obvious that the rise of Chinese car companies does not need to be proved by building a supercar.

Since the input-output ratio of technology is low, it will not work commercially.

So what’s the point of building a supercar?

It is for dreams, for the dream of constantly surpassing limits.


Taking a detailed look at the history of several major international supercar brands, without exception, the original intention of their establishment was that the founder wanted to participate in racing competitions and build himself a car that was good enough to get on the podium and win trophies. Even now, the three supercar brands like Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin are not so much selling supercars to make money, but rather selling supercars to continue to participate in various top-level automobile events and provide blood transfusions to the teams.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of investment every year are all to push the peak of human speed just a little bit further.

Chinese car companies should really be braver

So when it comes to this, GAC Group's decision to build a supercar is quite reasonable.

The Chinese automobile industry really needs a car like this to prove that the Chinese can do it too.

The automobile industry is one of the most complex industrial processes. The Chinese automobile industry has finally passed the era of joint ventures in which the market was exchanged for technology. Through continuous self-research efforts, new energy vehicles with China's leading technology have been continuously pushed into the mainstream of the market. It is no exaggeration to say that the current stage is an unprecedented good year for the Chinese automobile industry.

But as Chinese consumers gradually begin to recognize independent brands and even classify new energy vehicles from international brands as "no-brands," Chinese new energy vehicles in the past two years seem to have begun to lack the courage to innovate.

All domestic car companies have suffered in the past. They want to gain more sales, more market share, more profits as soon as possible, and accelerate the launch of new products. However, the faster the pace, the more hasty the new car preparation cycle, and the less time they have to accumulate and verify new technology points.

Therefore, consumers will find that although new energy vehicles are indeed good, new energy vehicles of the same level on the market are extremely homogenized in terms of design and configuration. There are also fewer and fewer personalized models. Hundreds of new cars are launched in the Chinese auto market every year, and the largest number are actually family SUVs.

It’s not that family SUVs are bad, it’s just like children trained in exam-oriented education. They all look the same. Quality education is more conducive to stimulating innovation. Similarly,

The most interesting and attractive thing about a car has always been its personal attributes beyond the most basic means of transportation. Whether it can go off the track or go off-road, even if it just looks cool, it is an important reason for people to own it.

Chinese car companies are now too good at practicality and fun, but less so.

Therefore, with GAC HyperSSR, I hope that after gaining more market share, Chinese car companies can give some opportunities to interesting cars and give young people who want to buy cars some interesting choices.