(Yicai Global) Oct. 21 -- GAC Aion, the electric car marque of China’s GAC Group, has secured new funding worth CNY18.3 billion (USD2.5 billion), the most raised by a Chinese new energy vehicle developer, giving it a higher valuation than the NEV units of the country’s other traditional carmakers at CNY103.2 billion (USD14.3 billion).

Fifty-three strategic investors took part in the Series A financing round, GAC Aion’s parent company said yesterday. They included People’s Insurance Company of China, China Southern Power Grid, investment vehicles of Citic Securities and the Shenzhen and Guangzhou city governments, and a fund set up by large state-owned firms such as China Mobile and China Construction Bank.

The proceeds will be used for new product development, research and development, industrialization of next-generation batteries and electric drives, intelligent driving, smart cockpit technologies, energy ecology, and capacity expansion, GAC said.

The new investors will also help consolidate GAC Aion’s upstream supply chain of power batteries and auto chips, its parent said.

Following the latest financing round, Guangzhou-based GAC’s stake in its NEV unit will fall to 76.9 percent from 93.5 percent, with the new shareholders taking a 17.7 percent holding.

GAC Aion sold 182,300 NEVS in the first three quarters of this year, ranking fifth after BYD, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Tesla, and Geely Auto, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.

Editor: Martin Kadiev