GAC Aion V Payload Fuss Misses What Sneaky Tow Ratings Hide

In light of our upcoming GAC Aion V Luxury review, we noticed some reviews are making a complete meal of the 400kg GAC Aion V payload. Being even-handed as they are, those reviews never mention the scandalous GVM vs GCM vs kerb weight figures hidden within every single spec sheet on the market. A more than casual look through the figures shows payload is tight across the whole industry. It isn’t that spec sheets bury it, it’s that the payload isn’t highlighted. All punters see is a tow rating and cargo volume. The tow rating in the brochure is a number some of the big utes can’t use with a full cab and tub. They certainly can’t then take a fully loaded caravan on top, turning all buying decisions into a math-a-thon.

GAC Aion V Luxury is $44,590 plus on-roads, and its 400kg payload is being treated as a defect peculiar to this car. Payload is GVM minus kerb mass. It’s the most the car is rated to carry, and every passenger and every bag counts. Run those same sums on a petrol Mazda CX-5 or a ute towing its full 3,500kg and they come up looking pretty shabby.

Payload is surprisingly diminutive right across the mid-size SUV class, whatever powers it. GAC Aion V is at the low end, 10kg behind a BYD Atto 3 Evo Dynamic, and the electric rivals in our table stretch from 410kg to 515kg. The hardest part is finding the number at all. Most spec sheets either leave it out or print a figure that falls apart the moment you hitch a trailer. Deduct the kerb mass from the gross vehicle mass (GVM), and Bob’s your uncle.

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GAC AION V from a front three-quarter angle, as part of its Australian launch.

GAC AION V from a rear three-quarter angle, as part of its Australian launch.

2025 Tesla Model Y Juniper, showcasing its advanced self-parking capabilities during a demonstration.

BYD ATTO 3 EVO, front three-quarter

ABOVE: Hyundai Ioniq 5 driving on a bridge.

The upgraded Toyota bZ4X electric SUV is now on sale in Australia, featuring better range and more tech.

Chery OMODA E5, an electric SUV.

BYD Shark 6 driving off-road.

Toyota USA rounds up the new RAV4 family in one polished campaign image, because subtlety was clearly sent home early.

2026 Mitsubishi Outlander Black Edition shown from the front, included for Mitsubishi’s current SUV design direction.

The all-new Mazda CX-5 beside a SUSTAIN fuel drum at the UK launch.

The 2026 Tucson earned IIHS Top Safety Pick+ for 2026

Three new-generation Subaru Foresters, grey, blue, and light grey, parked on a rocky shore by a lake.

The Cannon Alpha on a gravel lookout

ABOVE: GAC Aion V and its rivals

GAC Aion V Payload and the Airport Run

Five adults at 80kg each weigh 400kg. Their 5 checked bags at 23kg each add 115kg, and hand luggage adds another 5kg, so the trip to the airport comes to 520kg. Those 5 adults use up the entire GAC Aion V payload before a single suitcase goes in. The bags then have to fit a 427L boot, against 586L in a Kia Sportage Hybrid.

Mazda CX-5 G25 Touring AWD is the new-generation petrol at $47,490, and has a 517kg payload. In reality, the new car is just a crisp new frock over the old knickers. Engines, transmissions, and platform are the same. The platform got a few nips n tucks, but the same trip puts it 3kg over the limit before anyone fits so much as a dashcam. Kia Sportage SX+ diesel AWD has 496kg, which leaves it 24kg over. Unhappily, a petrol or diesel family SUV fails exactly the same trip the Aion V fails, only by a smaller margin.

The electric rivals do no better. Tesla Model Y Premium RWD misses by 9kg and Hyundai Ioniq 5 Elite by 5kg. Subaru Forester Sport AWD is the only 5-seat SUV in our table that clears the airport run, with 52kg to spare.

The bigger 7-seat SUVs carry more. Mitsubishi Outlander Aspire AWD has 710kg, 190kg more than the trip needs. Toyota Kluger Grande hybrid AWD has 655kg and clears it with 135kg.

The Number Spec Sheets Hide Under the Mattress

Toyota’s current darling, the RAV4, has a spec sheet defining payload in a tiny footnote as GVM less kerb weight. It then prints neither a GVM nor a kerb weight for any grade. The formula is there and both numbers it needs are missing, so a RAV4 buyer can’t do the sum from Toyota’s own sheet. See footnote 4. Ask AI if you dare.

Kia publishes only a tare mass for the Sorento hybrid, 1,972kg, and no kerb mass, so the sheet can’t give its payload either. Hyundai gives the Santa Fe Hybrid a kerb range from 1,990kg to 2,105kg, by powertrain rather than by grade. That puts its payload anywhere from 575kg to 690kg, and a 115kg spread is bigger than one of our 100kg adults.

Tare and kerb aren’t the same. The WA Department of Transport’s Safe Towing Guide defines kerb mass as the vehicle with all fluids full, including a full fuel tank, and its standard equipment. There are no occupants or load. Tare is the same car with only 10 litres of fuel. Any payload based on tare looks better than the real one by the weight of the fuel that isn’t in the tank.

Payload should always be worked out from kerb, and even that’s before the extras. Every accessory counts against it as well, from the towbar and roof racks to a bullbar or a canopy.

Tow Ratings That Eat the Payload Like a Kid on Jellybeans

The headline tow rating is almost always a totally misleading figure. This is a load of old flummery because the towball download is included in GVM, so every kilo pressing down on that little ball comes straight off payload. Spec sheets never say so, but it should be in big, bold red letters. Our towing table takes each maker’s maximum towball download at its maximum braked rating and subtracts it from payload. The payload then reads like bollocks. That bloke at the pub being Mr. Boasty McBoastface about his big meaty capacity, is suffering from big-number syndrome. Three and a half tonnes does not a family camping trip make.

GAC Aion V Luxury isn’t rated to tow at all, so the whole 400kg GAC Aion V payload stays with the people and the bags. Every rival in the towing table gives up payload to the towball, from 100kg on Kia EV6 Air to 350kg on GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV. In the end, the figures are complete carnage.

Take the airport run’s 5 frenemies at 80kg, leave the bags at home, and hitch each 5-seat SUV in the towing table to its big, beefy braked load. Only Hyundai Ioniq 5 Elite stays legal, and it has a whole 15kg spare for luggage. Mazda CX-5 G25 Touring has 367kg left after a 150kg towball, so it’s 33kg over before anyone packs a condom.

GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV towing its 3,500kg rating has 335kg left after the towball, less than a Kia Sportage has left when it tows. Are you seeing a pattern? Put 3 adults of 100kg each in the cab and 35kg remains for all the detritus in the tray and any canopy or accessories fitted to it. A Kia EV6 Air towing 1,800kg has 340kg left, 5kg more than the ute.

It’s the same story further down the range. GWM Cannon Hi4-T can’t use its full payload and its maximum tow on the same trip either.

Anyone moving 5 big lads and their mucky gear needs a ute-based vehicle rather than a mid-size SUV. BYD Shark 6 Premium is $57,900 with a 790kg payload, and 4 adults of 100kg each leave 390kg for gear, close to the whole GAC Aion V payload again. Hitch 2,500kg, its tow rating, and 540kg is left after the towball. Three of those adults then leave 240kg for the tray and its fit-out. What a shambles.

The best towing result in our table goes to an SUV. Mitsubishi Outlander Aspire towing 1,600kg keeps 550kg, 10kg more than a Shark 6 towing 2,500kg.

Charging Another EV at 6kW

Then, there are the party tricks. The Aion V’s V2L can top up a stranded EV at 6kW, car to car, and its accessory port adaptor gives 3.3kW for appliances. The Aion V uses 16.7kWh/100km WLTP, so an hour at 6kW puts in 6kWh, roughly 36km of driving.

Most of its electric rivals can’t match the car-to-car figure. BYD Atto 3 tops out at 3.3kW. Tesla Model Y needs Tesla’s optional $145 outlet adaptor for up to 3.45kW, and only on new cars built since about October 2026. Toyota bZ4X has a near-embarrassing 1.5kW socket in the boot from MY26. Kia EV6 Air has a cabin socket and no exterior adaptor, so it can’t charge another car at all. MG HS plug-in hybrid has V2L, though no rated output is published.

The 2 utes match the Aion V. BYD Shark 6 has 6kW V2L. Its 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine recharges the battery, so it can keep supplying power. GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV gives 6kW with an accessory.

Our full GAC Aion V Luxury review follows.

Mid-Size SUV and Ute Payloads

What Towing Leaves You

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Written by Alan Zurvas

Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.