China’s GWM sensationally revealed a new twin-turbo V8 petrol engine last year at the Shanghai motor show, and the brand’s local operating chief is still very keen to try and find a place for the power plant Down Under.
Speaking with media, GWM Australia chief operating officer John Kett said the company would “love” to make the V8 a reality in Australia, though finding where it fits in is a challenge given pressure from the Federal Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).
“We’d love to turn that V8 we spoke about last year into something. We’ve certainly got visibility around [ICE-only] V8, I’m not sure we can pay the NVES penalty, but we want to think about that too and how it would work,” Mr Kett said.
“We don’t have anything more on our plug-in hybrid V8, but it’s still there [on the radar], and we get a chance at this [Beijing motor show] to go back to Baoding and see where we are in that regard.”
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Asked if such a powertrain would force the company to do strictly limited volume, or even a ballot system like some automakers do in heavily regulated markets, Mr Kett replied: “We’d like to be a bit broader than that”.
“I think for our whole portfolio, we’ll sit on the edge of NVES [penalties]… So maybe [the V8 customer] has to pay the tax that goes with that.
“Economically that makes sense, but I’m not sure PR-wise or corporate-wise, whether they would like that.”
Further to Mr Kett’s comments, GWM’s head of marketing and communications, Steve Maciver, added: “If we can build a business case and there’s demand there, we’ll sell as many as we can.”
The availability of a turbocharged V8 petrol engine would give GWM a big point of difference in the attainable end of the market, given eight-cylinder engines these days are generally the realm of boutique and luxury brands apart from a handful of models like the Ford Mustang and outgoing Nissan Patrol.
GWM revealed the new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 at the Shanghai motor show last April, and hinted at its debut under the bonnet of the flagship Tank 700 4WD SUV that has yet to be confirmed for the Australian market.
Speaking with media at the Shanghai show, GWM International vice-president James Yang said the new V8 was under consideration for a variety of models to be sold in China and export markets including Australia. Mr Yang said GWM’s new V8 could be applied to a range of Tank models, including the Tank 300 and Tank 500 4WD SUVs.
Through his interpreter, Mr Yang said the new V8 will be incorporated into a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that allows the vehicle to drive primarily on electric power, and only calls on the combustion engine during high-load situations such as hard acceleration and towing.
“The V8 will come in a plug-in system, and fundamentally when it’s being driven in the city it will run majority in EV mode,” he said. “When we consider towing massive 3.5-tonne plus caravans, the V8 would really help balance the whole situation with the plug-in.
“Overall, when in city driving, this will still run majority with EV mode and only when during hard work such as towing a massive van is when it will work in a hybrid situation.”
Such a powertrain – whether or not it’s backed by a PHEV system – could be a massive opportunity for GWM to build a unique selling point (USP) in the 4WD space.
The Toyota LandCruiser and LandCruiser 70 Series models have both lost their V8 engines, while the Y62 Nissan Patrol is now in runout ahead of a new twin-turbo V6 replacement arriving later this year.
Jeep doesn’t offer the V8-powered Wrangler 392 in right-hand drive, and therefore not Australia, and a V8-powered Grand Cherokee hasn’t been seen in local showrooms for several years.
A Tank 300 V8 would have virtually no competitors in its segment locally, then, and could even serve as a cut-price alternative to something like a Mercedes-AMG G63 or Land Rover Defender V8 should it land under $100,000.
Mr Kett’s comments around NVES pressures could mean the Chinese brand will opt for the PHEV version of the ‘4.0T V8’ powertrain should it eventually come to Australia, nicely slotting in as the flagship drivetrain for its Tank sub-brand.
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