⚡ AION's second UK model has landed — with an eight-year ownership package bolted on
The AION UT is on sale in Britain from £28,950, with a claimed 268-mile range, a five-star Euro NCAP rating and the "Great 8" aftersales promise. Here is what the Chinese hatchback actually offers UK buyers — and the three places it falls short of the MG4.
London, 16 September 2026 — AION has opened UK order books for the UT, the second model the brand has brought to Britain. Prices start at £28,950 on the road for a 60kWh hatchback with a claimed 268-mile WLTP range, and the company is running a September-only finance offer of 0% APR PCP from £349 a month. The customer deposit is £1,949, a figure that includes a £500 test-drive contribution for retail customers who take a drive and order this month. First customer cars are due in October, and test drives begin at AION's UK dealers this weekend.
The UT follows the AION V family SUV, which arrived in the spring, and it gives the brand a car aimed at a far broader audience than a £40,000-plus electric SUV. AION is the electric marque of GAC, the Guangzhou-based group that has been building vehicles since 1997. Its British operation is a joint venture with the international distributor Jameel Motors and is headquartered in Slough, while the UT itself was styled at GAC's design studio in Milan.
The UT in numbers
There is only one powertrain. A 60kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery feeds a front-mounted motor making 201bhp and 155lb ft of torque, which is enough for a 0-62mph time of 7.3 seconds and a 99mph top speed. AION claims 268 miles on the WLTP combined cycle and says a 30-80 per cent rapid charge takes 24 minutes.
| AION UT — key UK figures | |
|---|---|
| Price from | £28,950 (£30,150 with Premium Pack) |
| Battery | 60kWh LFP |
| Claimed range | 268 miles (WLTP) |
| Power | 201bhp / 204PS, front-wheel drive |
| 0-62mph | 7.3 seconds |
| Peak rapid charging | 87kW measured (AION claims 30-80% in 24 minutes) |
| Boot | 440 litres (1,600 litres with the rear seats folded) |
| Size | 4,270mm long, 1,850mm wide, 2,750mm wheelbase |
| Euro NCAP | Five stars under the 2026 protocols |
| Warranty | 8 years / 100,000 miles, transferable |
Charging is the weakest number
The 24-minute claim deserves a closer look, because it is the one figure where the UT trails its main rivals by a wide margin. Autocar measured a peak rate of just 87kW, which it says means a 10-80 per cent top-up takes 32 minutes. For comparison, the MG4 peaks at 150kW. carwow puts a full AC charge on an 11kW supply at six hours and 50 minutes, which is slower than a Renault 4 or a Kia EV2, though not dramatically so.
Owners who charge at home overnight will not notice. Owners who rely on motorway rapid chargers on long trips will.
Five stars, seven airbags, and a cabin that splits opinion
The UT scored a full five stars in Euro NCAP's 2026 round of testing, with sub-scores of 66 per cent for safe driving, 74 per cent for crash avoidance, 91 per cent for crash protection and 88 per cent for post-crash safety. It carries seven airbags, including a far-side airbag that is still unusual at this price point, plus a 360-degree parking camera and a full suite of driver assistance systems.
The interior is where reviewers part company with AION's pitch. The equipment list is genuinely long — a 14.6-inch central touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual-zone voice control, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and six speakers — but Autocar found the touchscreen poorly configured and buried in sub-menus, the materials cheap-feeling in places, and rear head room tight for adults thanks to a panoramic roof that ends ahead of the rear bench. The boot, at 440 litres, comfortably beats both the MG4 (363 litres) and the Volkswagen ID.3 (385 litres), and there is a further 24 storage spaces around the cabin.
The "Great 8" promise is the real sales pitch
For a brand most British buyers have never heard of, the ownership package is arguably doing more work than the car. Every UT is covered by what AION calls the Great 8: eight years or 100,000 miles of vehicle warranty, eight years or 125,000 miles of battery warranty, and eight years of servicing, roadside assistance and MOT cover. Crucially, the package is tied to the car's VIN and is transferable to a second owner, which should help residuals and makes a used UT more attractive than a used unknown.
Roadside assistance comes from the AA, including its mobile technician fleet, parts distribution is handled by DHL, home charger installation is in place, and AION has opened a flagship site in west London alongside its dealer network. As aftersales infrastructure for a new entrant goes, that is a more complete answer than many brands managed in their first year.
Where it sits against the MG4 and the ID.3
At £28,950 the UT undercuts the entry MG4 at £29,995 and sits roughly £5,000 below a 59kWh Volkswagen ID.3. Spend £1,200 on the Premium Pack and you get a panoramic roof, powered tailgate, wireless phone charging, electric-folding mirrors and a ventilated driver's seat for £30,150 — which is where the arithmetic gets awkward. A Skoda Epiq starts at around £27,000 with more range, and the 52kWh Volkswagen ID Polo offers a longer claimed range for £28,300.
On running costs the UT behaves like a modern EV: it sits comfortably below the £50,000 threshold that triggers the expensive car supplement, pays the £10 first-year VED rate, and lands in the four per cent benefit-in-kind band for 2026/27, rising to five per cent the following year.
Three things to be sceptical about
Real-world range. Testers recorded between 4.0 and 4.8 miles per kWh depending on route and weather, which implies somewhere around 240 miles in mixed driving — close to but below the WLTP figure, and normal EV behaviour rather than a red flag.
The 87kW charge rate. It is the clearest technical compromise in the package, and it will matter most to buyers who cannot charge at home.
The cabin. A five-star safety score does not make a dashboard pleasant to use at 70mph, and this is the point most UK reviewers landed on. If the touchscreen interface is going to decide your purchase, drive one before you sign.
What happens next
AION has said it will add more UK models next year, with a large electric SUV, the S7, due in mid-2027, and a line-up of eight models planned by the end of the decade. Whether the UT succeeds will hinge on the same thing it always does for a new Chinese brand in Britain: whether buyers trust the badge enough to hand over £29,000, and whether the Great 8 package is enough to answer the question of what happens if it does not work out.
If you are shopping the compact end of the electric market, compare the UT against our pages on the MG4 EV, the Volkswagen ID.3, the BYD Dolphin Surf and the Leapmotor T03 — or browse the full electric car library. Our guide to EV road tax explains exactly what a car like this costs to tax each year.
