GAC zooms into
South Africa

This week saw the launch of yet another new Chinese automotive brand in South Africa: GAC, or Guangzhou Automobile company.  

GAC Motor is represented in South Africa by the Portuguese organisation Salvador Caetano Auto, and they launched their first new model in South Africa this week, the GS3 Emzoom.

It’s a beautiful car. Sleek lines and diamond shapes define this vehicle, with the theme running from the front through the windows to the trims to the rear.

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The Emzoom range comes in three variants, Comfort, Executive and R-style. All run on 1.5l Turbo engines with 130kW power output.

The basic Comfort model is fairly impressive, with multi-function steering wheel, hill-start hold control, tyre pressure monitoring, a 10.25-inch multi-functional touch screen and a 3.5 inch instrument cluster.

The next model up, the Executive, adds a few luxuries, like a second-row air conditioning vent, a 7-inch LCD instrument cluster for the driver, adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning, along with intelligent speed limit control and lane departure warning.

And then, at the top of the range, you have the R style, which adds to all of those features the likes of wireless charger, automatic tailgate, sunroof, driver seat 6-way power adjustment, hill-descent control, surround view camera system, and an R style sport pack, which includes a body kit and exhaust with extra sound.

We tried that out, and it was pretty impressive. Less impressive was the fact that these cars all come with wireless Car Play for Apple users, but no Android Auto. Instead, you have CarbitLink functionality, requiring one to download the Chinese screen mirroring app. But GAC in South Africa, cognisant of the needs of the local market, went with an aftermarket option for people wanting to add Android Auto.

Ironically, the marketing director of GAC in South Africa, Brian Smith, is a big Android fan, so I asked him what GSC was planning to do about the Android absence.

“We have an aftermarket solution, which is an Android Auto box,” he told GadgetWheels during the launch. “It seamlessly matches to your phone wirelessly and integrates through to the 10.25- inch screen, emulating the same effect as if you had Android Auto.

“GAC is planning to have Android Auto during the course of next year. From around the middle of next year, we’ll have Android Auto as a standard to replace CarbitLink.”

And then there are a few more technology shifts that will keep GAC in the news.

“We have a couple of exciting cars coming. We have a new energy vehicle coming, which will be a technology shift for us locally as GAC.

“In terms of tech in the car w ae launching today, we will get some good public feedback over the next couple of weeks. We’ll understand exactly what it is, where we can make some changes, and we’ll take it from there. We think the car has a great package as it stands, but certainly we’re absolutely open to having a discussion.”

For me personally, the most important aspect of any new car is the extent to which it embraces advanced technology, or at least current technology. And right now, the most advanced current technology is the kind of advanced driver assistance systems that you can get in new cars, or ADAS. The Emzoom range, says GAC, is fitted with a suite of Level 2 ADAS functions, meaning that it has very basic autonomous capability.

How does the GS2 Emzoom do on ADAS? To try that out, I went for a test drive with Clinton Pienaar of Wiele2Wiele. We test-drove the GS3 Emzoom, R-style variant to try out its self-driving capabilities.

Thanks to a highly effective land-keep assistance capability, for a car that costs a little more than half a million Rand, it was not too bad at all. One can see that it points to a near future where mid-range cars are going to have full self-driving capabilities.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and I thoroughly enjoyed the technology, give or take Android Auto here or there.

The new range comes in at a starting point of R469,900, not bad for what you get. The executive variant costs a shade under half-a- million, and then the R style top of the range at R549,900. They all come with a five year 150,000km warranty and a 60,000km service plan.

With those specs, that pricing and that experience, we can say that GAC has truly arrived in South Africa.

 * Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on social media on @art2gee.