AION V (2026 - ) Electric review

It’s not the cheapest five-seat SUV you can buy, but it’s one of the best-value, when you consider what’s included as standard, which is basically everything but the kitchen sink up to and including 32 ambient colours that pulse in heartbeat or dance mode. What else do you need? If you have a home charger, the V will be super cheap to run, and you’ll never pay for an MOT or roadside assistance (see above). Also cheap as a second-hand buy, because the “Great 8” offer stays with the car, not the owner. Furthermore, the V should hold its value better than many other SUVs: CAP HPI predicts residual values higher than those of the Volkswagen ID.4, BYD Atto 3, Nissan Ariya and Skoda Elroq.

Aion is owned by Chinese mega car giant, GAC, which has decades of experienced partnering with Honda and Toyota. It has thousands of engineers in China, so we wouldn’t expect any major mechanical issues. There have been some software glitches with other Chinese manufacturers coming into the UK around entertainment functions, in particular DAB, but Aion seemed to have radio and Apple CarPlay sussed when we drove the cars. The company is keeping its sales volume quite low in the first year, which should help with a more personalised customer relationship: it expects 100 sites controlled by 25 dealers over the next five years round the UK. It has also partnered with Jumptech to provide a human on the other end of a phone for support in setting up home charging with any number of providers.

Half a point docked for too much safety… way too many pings and bongs warning of a lack of attention, bad haircut and so on. OK, not exactly, but it starts to feel like personal criticism. Some you can turn off immediately, some take a little longer. And another half point docked for having almost the same graphics and digital layout that every other Chinese car company displays – way too small and fiddly with no common sense applied to the layout, which leaves you distracted as you stab at the screen for what you want. They could all learn some very quick lessons from Renault on that score. Apart from that, of course it has everything as standard that you could ever want, including a 360-degree parking camera and all the interventions and warnings.

The front seats can recline fully flat once you remove the headrest, so you can sleep over at festivals without having to bother with a stupid tent or catnap while your prodigy young swimming daughter is doing 6am trials at the pool. That’s comfort right there. The boot floor goes up a level to provide a flat loading surface, plus there are heated and cooled seats front and rear, which is a double bonus. It’s smooth and quiet at low speeds but motorways show where cost has been cut, with road and wind noise cutting across conversations and music.

A heated storage space to keep your takeaway warm on the way home? Yes please. It comes in the higher-trim version and does heating or cooling. The more expensive version also gives you the option of holographic paint, cream or bright-tan leather and a Bentley-style fold-out mini desk from the passenger seat back, complete with chrome edging. It’s super smart, as is the leather design on the seats and doors: the feel is definitely premium. Every car gets a heat pump which helps preserve the range in the winter, a fully glass roof, and very fast phone charging, alongside an integrated little fan to keep the phone cool, which is neat.

It won’t set your heart on fire, but few sub-£40,000 SUVs do. It feels weedy as you accelerate onto motorways or up hills, but power isn’t its forte. The V is capable of very fast charging however, should you find an ultra-rapid public charging point and be willing to pay for it. We also have confidence in the V to deliver a distance approaching the maximum quoted range on one charge: the Chinese brands are pretty reliable here. The 317-mile range isn’t amazing: we’d expect 350 if not more from a big family car these days. If you still have range anxiety, a plug-in hybrid version is due in 2027 and there is talk of a range extender too, which uses a small petrol engine to give the electric battery more range.