China's GAC is bringing its Entranze concept to the Detroit Auto Show

GAC-Motor-GS5 — The GAC GS5 SUV is meant to be a "medium-to-high-end" SUV with a 1.5-liter engine. We don't hate how it looks and we're curious how it drives.
GAC

For the past few years, Chinese car company GAC has had a significant presence at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit despite not offering any vehicles in the US. This year, GAC is back with a new concept called the Entranze, announced Friday, as well as the North American debut of its latest minivan and SUV.

The Entranze concept was developed by GAC in its Advanced Design Center in Los Angeles and is meant to be a self-driving modern family vehicle. GAC's press release doesn't give us much more than that and the teaser image is also fairly vague, but given GAC's previous concepts, we could be in for something weird.

The GM6 minivan got its world debut recently in China, but this is the first time we're seeing it in the Western hemisphere. It's packing 99 cubic feet of cargo space and what GAC is calling a "five-star safety package" and an AI-enhanced intelligent driving system.

The GS5 SUV was unveiled in Paris last year and we actually kind of like how it looks. GAC is calling it a "medium-to-high-end SUV," though with just a 1.5-liter engine under its hood, the driving experience may not live up to that description.

While it's easy to be skeptical about Chinese car companies' repeated claims that they'll be entering the US market in the very near future, the GAC vehicles we've seen in the past seem, at least in terms of design and materials quality, like they could be successful here as budget-friendly alternatives to more established brands. We're looking forward to seeing if the GM6 and GS5 follow that trend.