Hycan A06 & Z03 EVs Spotted in Malaysia – Launching Soon?

Several Hycan EVs have been spotted in Malaysia, thus fueling rumours of the Chinese brand’s arrival into our market. (Photo credit: Cheong Chunxuan via Facebook)

Another day, another new Chinese brand rumoured to enter our local market, this time being Hycan. That is because two of its EV models, the Hycan A06 saloon and Z03 crossover, were recently spotted in Malaysia.

The two images of the Hycan EVs were published by Facebook user Cheong Chunxuan in the Malaysian Electric Vehicle Owners Club (MyEVOC) group, where we can see a couple of Z03 and A06 EVs parked at an unknown location. While one of the A06 sedans was covered in a car cover sheet, the remaining three units bear no camouflage wraps whatsoever.

Photo credit: Cheong Chungxuan via Facebook

Upon closer inspection, we can see part of the steering wheel from one of the Z03's front-left windows, which indicates that all these cars are left-hand drive (LHD) units. Beyond these little details, there’s not much else we can derive from these photos, as all models appear to be in the same form as their Chinese counterparts.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Hycan brand, this relatively new Chinese EV marque was born out of a partnership between China’s GAC Group and Nio, who formed GAC-Nio New Energy Technology back in 2018. Years after its inception, the brand has been riddled with some financial troubles, with Nio withdrawing from the partnership in 2022 and GAC’s EV sub-brand, GAC Aion, taking over Hycan’s after-sales service earlier this year.

As for the two models spotted, the A06 is positioned as the brand’s midsize saloon fighter, featuring a sleek four-door sedan bodystyle with several sporty bits. Launched in China back in 2022, the A06 comes in both single- and dual-motor powertrain options, with the latter delivering up to 462 hp (345 kW), allowing for a rapid 0 to 100 km/h sprint time of 3.7 seconds and a 180 km/h V-max.

Two battery options are available for the A06, namely the smaller 60.04-kWh LFP and a larger 71-kWh unit, offering a CLTC range of 550 to 630 km, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Z03 is essentially a rebadged version of the GAC Aion Y, featuring the same underpinnings and powertrain setups. Two single-motor options are available, both rated at 181 hp (135 kW) and 215 hp (160 kW) respectively, while sharing the same 225 Nm torque output.

In native China, three battery options are available for the Z03, each with a capacity of 55.5 kWh, 63.98 kWh, and 76.8 kWh, delivering up to 430 km, 510 km, and 620 km of CLTC range, respectively.

With these two Hycan EVs now spotted in Malaysia, could this struggling Chinese brand make its landfall into our market, which is already laden with some of its more successful counterparts? Or perhaps these Hycan EVs were being used as test mules by GAC Group’s local arm, GAC Motor Malaysia?