Founded in 1997, GAC now builds over 2.5 million vehicles a year and ships them worldwide. The company establishes a global studio network known as four GAC design centres in Guangzhou (HQ), Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Milan. Its Milan Design Center, set in the European fashion-driven creative scene, anchors the European arm of that network and experiments with form, materials, and interfaces to shape future mobility aesthetics.
The Strategic Importance of Milan for GAC
Milan’s Legacy and Why It Suits GAC
Milan lives and breathes fashion, art, and product design. Those creative roots make the city a natural lab for new ideas in mobility. The local culture values craftsmanship yet pushes for bold statements, so it gives GAC design a ready-made reference library of textures, forms, and colours. By planting a studio here, GAC taps into a talent pool to merge engineering with style. That proximity to trend-setting shows and suppliers keeps the team alert to what comes next.
A Key Node in GAC’s Global Design Network
GAC runs studios in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Milan. Each site covers a different slice of the brief. Guangzhou anchors core programs, Shanghai tracks digital experiences, and Los Angeles explores future tech themes. Milan zooms in on European tastes—its team created the AION UT crossover to blend Italian lines with continental safety and UX demands. So, the city sharpens GAC design on high-end aesthetics while feeding fresh cues back to the other hubs.
The “Aesthetics Lab” Mindset
As renowned for its fashion, art, and design culture, Milan studio serves as an aesthetics lab in GAC Europe. Here, GAC designers probe how colour, light, and local culture shape emotion in the cabin and around the vehicle. Clay, VR, and street observations sit side-by-side, helping the team test feelings of calm, excitement, or trust before anything reaches production. The lab’s open, collaborative setup lets ideas jump from fashion mood boards to digital clay and back. Thus, it turns every project into research on how future mobility can feel as good as it functions.
Innovations and Design Philosophy at the Milan Center
A Creative Hub Rooted in Milan’s Culture
Situated on the vibrant Via Tortona, the Milan Advanced Design Center thrives in a district rich with artistic heritage and cultural landmarks, including nearby fashion ateliers, museums, and the legacy of iconic Italian photographer Giovanni Gastel. This environment fuels inspiration and creativity, reflecting the center’s philosophy that no idea emerges in isolation but is born from immersive experiences. The workspace itself fosters collaboration and agility, featuring multifunctional areas like an espresso bar for daily team exchanges, movable lighting to adapt to evolving needs, and an Inspiration Room blending historical artistry with cutting-edge technology. Here, global designers converge to explore uncharted frontiers in automotive innovation.
Sustainable Thinking First
The Milan Advanced Design Center builds on a clear goal: blend smart tech with craft to create mobility that is easier on the planet. Re-use, lightweight layouts, and cleaner processes steer every sketch. Guangzhou’s paint shop shows the idea in action—it swapped to water-based coatings and robot spraying, cutting energy use and VOC emissions. Similar water-saving and low-smoke measures back up each production line, so early ideas can be built responsibly. That hands-on approach keeps GAC design grounded in real sustainability, not slogans.
Advanced Materials & Tools
New ideas only work when the materials keep up. Carbon fibre makes up more than 90% of the GOVY AirJet, giving a light yet tough frame for aerial travel. On the ground, the second-generation Magazine Battery in the AION range jumps fast and shrugs off gun-shot tests. An intelligent manufacturing-execution system then links those design files to the shop floor so prototypes roll out quickly and traceably. Hence, advanced composites, fast-charging chemistry, and digital factories let the Milan team push concepts without over-engineering them.
Mobility Beyond the Road
The studio thinks past four wheels. The GOVY AirJet flying car pairs fixed-wing lift with vertical-take-off rotors, aiming for 250 km/h and a 200 km range after a half-hour top-up. It sits at the heart of a Robo-AirTaxi ecosystem that blends ground and aerial legs into one trip. On the show side, the Car Culture concept series—most recently the CC4 model shown during 2025 Milan Design Week—lets designers test ideas about shared space, AI co-creation, and new interior gestures. Such projects sketch out how people might hop seamlessly between streets and the sky.
Style That Works Hard
Looks still matter. They just have to earn their keep. The AION UT, drawn in Milan, mixes a fastback profile with an eyebrow-shaped headlight that also smooths airflow. Pixel-style light graphics give clear signals yet stay frugal on energy, while dual screens and a quick heat pump keep the cabin usable without visual clutter. The car shows how GAC design turns Italian flair into everyday practicality—making beauty a working part of the vehicle, not an add-on.
Impact on the Automotive Industry and Future Outlook
Milan Design Center and Future Mobility
GAC’s studio in Milan works like a test kitchen for tomorrow’s cars. Designers mix local Italian styling cues with practical EV tech and then show the results at events such as Milan Design Week. Notably, the AION UT SUV—styled in the Milan lab—pairs distinctive “eyebrow” headlights with playful pixel graphic lights, enhancing the tech-savvy vibe. While putting a full concept-to-production workflow inside Europe’s most design-driven city, the centre lets GAC trial ideas quickly, gather real-world feedback, and feed those lessons straight into upcoming models.
Influence on European and Global Automotive Design
The Milan hub plugs into a wider network that also spans Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, so sketches born in Italy ripple through every studio. This cross-pollination brings European proportions and interior layouts to Chinese and U.S. projects. At the same time, Asian battery know-how loops back into vehicles aimed at Europe. Leadership from ex-Renault designer Stéphane Janin, plus visible launches during Milan Design Week, keep the centre on the radar of rival brands and local suppliers—nudging them to match its pace on electric car design and safety integration. Consequently, “GAC design” is becoming a reference point for how global teams can co-create cars that feel local yet share a common technical foundation.
Final Words
At the Guangzhou Auto Show, GAC showed the S7 and HYPTEC HL, and followed the AION UT, AION V, and CC4 concepts at Milan Design Week —clear hints of more to come. Designers in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Milan blend global ideas with fast-charge technology. Along these lines, if you like fresh EV design, keep an eye on GAC’s next moves.