- Aftersales package a strong buyer incentive
- Spacious interior and large boot
- Touchscreen-heavy control set-up
The Aion brand’s second UK model aims to impress small EV buyers with practicality and a strong aftersales package.
Overview
Having made its UK market debut earlier this year with the electric V medium SUV, Aion – a brand owned by Chinese manufacturer GAC and brought to the UK in partnership with Jameel Motors – is now turning its attention to the supermini segment with its second model, also an EV. The UT is, however, large as superminis go, at 4,270mm long, which can be attributed to its sharing the V’s platform and coming within 25mm of its wheelbase – Aion believes the model may attract buyers looking to downsize from the C-segment. It says it has benchmarked the UT against similarly sized models such as the BYD Dolphin and MG4, as well as more conventionally sized small cars such as the Renault 5 and Peugeot E-208.
The UT features a single electric powertrain option, pairing a 204PS electric motor, driving the front wheels, with a 60kWh battery.
The UT has launched in the UK with a 0% APR PCP offer, priced from £349 a month, available during September 2026. The offer is available with a customer deposit of £1,949, which includes an Aion deposit contribution of £500 for all retail customers who take a test drive and order a UT during the month.
Pricing and spec
The UT is going on sale in the UK with a single trim level option, with standard equipment including 17-inch alloy wheels, full LED lighting, climate control, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and a heat pump.
Although there’s only one conventional trim level, UT buyers are able to add an optional Premium Pack for £1,200, features of which include a panoramic glass roof, powered tailgate, ventilated driver’s seat and wireless phone charging. Aion is expecting the Premium Pack version to be the most popular with buyers.
The UT’s single trim option is priced at £28,950, which means it undercuts the BYD Dolphin and MG4. The starting prices of the Renault 5 and Peugeot E-208 are however substantially cheaper – as well as being smaller and offering wider ranges of trim, these models are helped in cost comparisons by being eligible for the UK Government’s Electric Car Grant, which the UT is not.
Aftersales is an area where Aion is aiming to impress with its ‘Great Eight’ promise, which includes an eight-year warranty along with eight years’ servicing, roadside assistance and MOT testing, while a mobile servicing partnership with the AA allows nationwide coverage with the brand in the early stages of building up its dealer network. Service intervals are two years/18,000 miles.
Technology
The UT comes as standard with a 14.6-inch central touchscreen and an 8.8-inch driver display. The touchscreen, which is nicely responsive to touches, handles most vehicle functions, including some things we would prefer to have their own separate controls. The interface does include a handy shortcut menu with tiles allowing quick access to functions such as mirror adjustment and ADAS, although you have to come out of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto – which connect wirelessly – to get to this.
Climate controls are accessed from icons at the bottom of the screen, which can be fiddly – it’s easy to be attempting to turn the temperature up or down a bit and instead select minimum or maximum temperature by mistake, although these adjustments can also be handled acceptably by voice control.
Safety
The UT’s driver assistance systems are powered by Aion’s Adigo Pilot technology, and include adaptive cruise control, intelligent cruise assist, blind spot detection and rear cross traffic alert. A 360-degree camera system is supplied as standard, and offers an impressively clear view.
Should drivers wish to deactivate systems such as overspeed warnings, this can be done via the touchscreen shortcut menu mentioned above.
The UT has received a full five-star rating from safety organisation Euro NCAP, with a particularly strong rating for occupant crash protection.
Driving experience
The UT has the same 204PS motor as the V, so with the UT being around 200kg lighter brisk acceleration is available.
The battery offers an official range of up to 268 miles between charges according to official WLTP figures – impressive for a small EV. We recorded an energy usage figure of 22.9kWh/100 miles driving at mainly town and A-road speeds, which would equate to 262 miles on a full battery. Less impressive relative to the competition is a maximum DC charging speed of 87kW, with which a 30-80% battery charge is possible in 24 minutes.
Two levels of regenerative braking are available, in addition to ‘off’, but we can see why the most severe level is only labelled ‘medium’ as the effect remains relatively subtle.
Aion says the UT’s chassis has been tuned for UK roads, and we’d say it has had some success. The UT isn’t an amazing dynamic handler but it feels reasonably nippy and hangs on well in bends. Body roll can be a factor, but you need to be cornering pretty aggressively for this to have a major effect.
The suspension handles big potholes well, and the ride is admirably composed over A-road undulations, although it can be fidgety over surface imperfections at lower speeds.
Refinement also isn’t perfect – there is a quiet whining noise audible from the motor at speed, alongside a fair bit of wind and road noise.
Practicality
The UT’s cabin feels pretty plush with lots of leatherette trim about the place and cheaper-feeling plastics being limited to low-down areas. It feels very light and airy especially with the French Cream interior colour scheme specced with our test car. The sense of spaciousness is helped by a floating centre armrest/storage unit arrangement – we were intrigued by a storage cubby in the centre console behind what looks like a small oven door.
Disappointingly, there is no steering wheel reach adjustment. We have no complaints about the seats, however – those with leather (in this case leatherette) trim are sometimes overly firm, but there is no comfort shortfall here.
Related reading: Aion plans steady growth with established dealer group partners
In a clear benefit from the UT sharing the V’s wheelbase, there is loads of rear legroom for a supermini, and a flat rear floor means this also goes for the middle passenger. Headroom, with the sunroof that comes with the Premium Pack, will be tight for tall adults with the rear seats in their default position, but they can be reclined, which creates more space. There are also dedicated rear air vents – relatively rare with this segment – and a USB charging port.
A 440-litre boot is impressively large for the segment, and bigger than those found with Aion’s benchmarked rivals. There’s an adjustable boot floor, which even in its lower position preserves enough room underneath for the EV charging cable. In the higher position it lines up with the folding rear seats, and creates a near flat load lip – which is fairly low anyway.
