GWM Cannon Alpha won’t bring V6 power

When the GWM Cannon Alpha begins rolling into Aussie dealerships from around late May, it’s tipped to deliver the Chinese brand a hefty uplift in sales.

Despite being likely to bring a higher price than its smaller GWM Ute Cannon sibling, which is currently priced between $35,990 and $52,900 (drive-away), thanks to its more powerful engines and premium equipment levels, GWM is already forecasting significant buyer interest.

“It's going to be interesting,” said GWM Australia marketing and communications chief Steve Maciver of the Cannon Alpha dual-cab, which is longer and wider than the brand’s Toyota HiLux-sized Cannon ute.

“Cannon Alpha’s going into a new, larger segment and price bracket that we haven’t really competed in and feedback in the market thus far has been really positive.

“We don’t think it’s too ambitious to suggest that of all [ute] sales, 30 to 35 per cent could be made up of Cannon Alpha pretty quickly,” said the GWM representative.

Beyond its bigger size, some of the key features of the new 2024 GWM Cannon Alpha ute that elevate it above most conventional one-tonne rivals like the Mitsubishi Triton include a big 14.6-inch central touch-screen, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 10-speaker Infinity audio system and heated, cooled and massaging front seats with Nappa leather upholstery.

An interesting split tailgate design can open in two different ways, hinging on both the bottom and the sides.

GWM says that while the beefed-up 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine (135kW/480Nm) will be more popular with buyers, the more muscular 2.0-litre turbo-petrol plugless hybrid powertrain (255kW/648Nm) is already attracting a lot of buyer attention and certainly won’t be a niche variant.

“The split between petrol hybrid and turbo-diesel will be interesting and though we don’t know for sure [how the sales split will play out] we do have forward orders and I think it will skew a little bit more towards diesel, given how diesel is accepted in that market,” said Maciver.

The fact that GWM’s Cannon Alpha will be the first full-hybrid ute in Australia will likely attract early adopter interest – as will its 3.5-tonne towing capacity, which matches the diesel.

Both engines are matched to a nine-speed automatic transmission with a BorgWarner transfer case comprising low-range gearing.

Locking front and rear diffs should further amplify its off-road prowess.

However, the turbo-petrol V6 powertrain option available in China for the Cannon Alpha is unlikely to be sold in Australia, due in large part to the federal government’s 2025 New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which will put pressure on car-makers to import lower-emission vehicles.

“It’s probably not the right engine for us at this stage,” conceded Maciver.

“We’ve got to weigh up emissions very carefully in light of NVES and the fact that we have brought the Cannon Alpha to market with hybrid and diesel,” said the GWM executive.

He noted that GWM’s plug-in hybrid powertrain – a powertrain that could deliver V6-rivalling power and torque – was a “strong option” for the Cannon Alpha in future.

“The plug-in hybrid powertrain is under consideration for Cannon Alpha and for the existing Cannon as well, so the V6 probably isn’t on our radar right now.”

GWM won’t have the hybrid ute market to itself for long though, given the Ford Ranger PHEV ute is coming in 2025 and the dual-cab BYD Shark PHEV is also expected to arrive late in 2024.

But GWM is confident its plus-size Cannon Alpha ute will hit the sweet spot for many buyers.

“We’ve had really strong feedback thus far. The way the car presents, the value proposition, and we’re sitting in a really, really strong position within the market,” said Maciver.

The GWM Cannon Alpha’s national media launch has already been held, so stay tuned for pricing details and our full review soon.

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