Here’s an Aion Hyper HT, seen in China after a rainstorm. The Night Shadow Black SUV-coupe looked neat, with oversized headlights, aero wheels, and a lidar on the roof.
About Aion Hyper
Hyper was a performance electric vehicle (EV) line under the Aion brand, owned by GAC. The old structure:
GAC [compacy] > Aion [brand] > Hyper [line].
In 2022, GAC spun off Hyper as an independent brand. In 2023, it changed its English name from Hyper to Hyptec. The Chinese name remained unchanged: 昊铂 (Hàobó). The new structure:
GAC [compacy] > Hyper/Hyptec [brand].
After Hyper/Hyptec became an independent brand, the cars dropped their Aion badges. However, the car shown in the photos is an original Aion Hyper. It still carries the 埃安 (Āiān, Aion) badge, which makes it a rare example.
Aion launched the Hyper HT less than a year before Hyper transitioned from a product line into a standalone brand. As a result, only a small number of Hyper models ever wore Aion branding. A future collector’s item, perhaps..?
The Aion Hyper HT
The Aion Hyper HT was a premium mid-size SUV coupé. The design was attractive, but the proportions felt slightly off: the front was too long, the rear too short, and the tiny wheels only emphasized the imbalance. At launch, the model felt special, as relatively few Chinese brands offered SUV coupés at the time. Today, there are dozens of them, in every size and configuration.
Aion marketed the Hyper line as “sporty”. The HT had looked racy enough, with a big ducktail spoiler fully integrated in the tailgate. The HT also has darkened windows, pop-out door handles, darkened light units, and a tiny bit of chrome on the bumpers.
The interior
The Aion Hyper featured a distinctive interior style. It leaned more toward luxury than sportiness, with a busy, highly detailed design. The doors, for example, combined numerous lines and materials. The leather seats looked almost classic, finished with a diamond pattern and factory-standard neck pillows. Behind the wide armrest section sat a huge storage compartment—large enough, of course, for a pack of tissues.
Aion Hyper positioned the 8.8-inch driver’s display far toward the windscreen. I’ve driven many Chinese cars with this setup, and it works very well. The screen sits directly in the driver’s line of sight and displays all the information you actually need. The central touchscreen measures 14.6 inches. The center stack houses a single 50W wireless charging pad, while the drive selector sits on the steering-wheel column. Atop the column is a large, driver-focused camera, watching your every move.
The Aion Hyper HT is a spacious five-seat car, with loads of legroom and reasonable headroom. Size: 4935/1920/1700 , 2935. The third-side window is large enough to see something. The audio system has 22 speakers, which, at the time, was a lot for a car in this segment.
Specifications
Aion offered various motors, batteries, and trim packages for the Hyper HT. The car in the photos is the absolute base model, the Aion Hyper HT 550 RWD. The single-motor rear-wheel drive powertrain delivers 180 kW and 355 NM, good for a 183 km/h top speed and 0-100 in 6.8 seconds.
The battery is a 70 kWh LFP, supplied by Chinese battery maker CALB. The energy consumption is 13.9 kWh/100 kilometers, and the CLTC range is 550 kilometers. Fast-charging (30-80%) took 31 minutes.
Price
Note the lidar on the roof, part of the ADiGO L2 ADAS package, which further included 5 cameras, 2 ultrasonic radars, and 3 millimeter-wave radars. In 2023, the Aion Hyper HT 550 RWD cost 223.900 yuan, or $31.6K in 2023 exchange rates. That wasn’t cheap, so the Aion Hyper HT didn’t sell very well, but that only makes it rarer still.