GWM reveals top five Aussie ambition

Chinese auto giant GWM has unfurled a massive product roll-out over the next two years, with the influx designed to embed it among Australia’s top-five-selling new vehicle brands.

GWM, which comprises the Haval SUV, Cannon ute, Tank 4x4 and Ora EV in Australia, finished 10th in sales in 2024 by selling a record 42,782 vehicles.

But it is aiming for 50,000-plus sales in 2025 and 70,000 within a few years.

Over the next two years it will roll out up to 14 to 15 new and updated models, many of them plug-in hybrids, to support its massive ambitions.

GWM has also confirmed:

• It will set up a new engineering centre locally to tune vehicles for Australian conditions.
• It has no end date in sight for selling vehicles powered by petrol and diesel internal combustion engines without hybrid assistance, despite the introduction of the New Vehicle Efficiency Scheme (NVES).
• It will grow its national dealer network from the current 113 outlets in 2025 to cater better to regional centres and fill-in some urban blackspots.
• It has put expansion of its full electric vehicle line-up on hold for the moment because of the slow-down in the market.

“We need to solidify ourselves as a top five player,” new GWM Australia Chief Operating Officer John Kett told carsales.

“We think 50,000 [sales] guarantees that we can build a platform to launch off again … top five is the goal.

“We get there when we get there. And if we grow at quarter or half the rate we are growing now we will get there.

“Everyone has ambition but we have a platform and a portfolio to work off,” said Kett, who transferred recently to GWM from his previous role of COO at established top five seller, Hyundai Australia.

The new models GWM will roll out in Australia in 2025 are:

February:
GWM Cannon 4x4 diesel dual cab ute (update)
Haval H6 GT PHEV (new drivetrain)

March-June:
GWM Tank 300 diesel (new drivetrain)
Haval H6 medium SUV – petrol and 2WD hybrid (midlife update)
GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV (new drivetrain)

July-September:
Haval H7 hybrid medium SUV (all-new model)

October-December:
Haval H6 medium SUV – AWD hybrid and PHEV (midlife update)
GWM Tank 500 PHEV (new drivetrain)

The 2026 roll-out is yet to be detailed.

GWM Australia marketing and communications chief Steve Maciver said the retention of ICE drivetrains in its expanding line-up would be a critical part of achieving its big sales targets.

Essentially, the brand will exploit its value pricing advantage over most of its rivals to enable that.

The NVES is designed to strangle ICE powertrains via steadily decreasing CO2 limits and handing out severe fines for exceeding them. It is intended to encourage the uptake of low- and especially zero-emissions vehicles. Credits are handed out to brands that undercut the CO2 limit.

Take a look at our full NVES explainer for all the details.

“ICE is still going to be a meaningful part of our portfolio,” said Maciver. “If we are going to get to 70,000 sales, and that’s the objective further down the line, then we don’t believe we can wash our hands of ICE.

“Ultimately, NVES will increase the price of internal combustion for everyone, but given our value advantage over most brands right now – assuming other brands will have to drop petrol or price up – even if we have to price up we still believe we will have that price advantage.

“Equally, with the significant number of hybrids and plug-in hybrids we will have in-market, we should be able to off-set a quite a few of those ICE [fines].”

Meanwhile, the local tuning centre will deal with traditional mechanical issues such as ride, handling and steering, but also work on improving issues related to driver assist systems such as lane keeping and driver and speed monitoring.

Maciver acknowledged the shortfalls GWM products have had in these areas despite repeated and concerted efforts by visiting Chinese engineers to improve them.

“We feel we have to localise even further,” he said. “We are going to take ownership of that and work to localise cars even more for the Australian market.

“We have made some strong moves in that direction.”

Maciver said GWM was about four to six weeks away from providing details on this plan and whether it would involve local external tuning expertise.

He estimated any results from the program, depending on the scale of the project, were at least four to six months away.

Both Hyundai Australia and fellow Korean brand Kia have built their local sales in part because of local tuning.

Kia still tunes every model for local roads, while Hyundai has reduced its local activity in recent years.

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