GWM secret supercar wanted in Australia

GWM’s Australian arm has its hand up for the Chinese brand’s shock secret new supercar.

Claimed to be better than a Ferrari SF90, the supercar was confirmed to be under development by GWM’s chief technology officer, Wu Huixiao, recently.

Few details have been revealed thus far, but it appears unlikely the brand’s new 4.0-litre V8 engine will be the chosen powerplant in the supercar… because it won’t fit.

The powertrain could even be developed specifically for this car, which would make sense, given GWM’s technology trend with its Hi4 system, that the supercar has electrified all-wheel drive.

Separately, it has been reported in China that the supercar – the first to be developed by a brand best known for SUVs and utes – could even be the flagship for GWM’s new luxury Confidence Auto brand.

Confidence will sit above GWM’s existing Cannon, Haval, Ora and Tank brands and is designed to go head-to-head with BYD’s Yangwang luxury brand, which makes the U9 supercar and U8 4x4.

While he wouldn’t be drawn on the existence of Confidence Auto, let alone whether the supercar will be its flagship, GWM Australia marketing chief Steve Maciver was clear about the role such a high-performance car could play in Australia.

“I don’t think it would do the brand any harm,” he said.

“Obviously our core focus is SUVs and utes, that’s essentially what the company has been built on and what the brand has been built on in this country.

“But this is a company that is expanding and it’s a company that has got huge global ambition and as such we have huge ambition here.”

GWM Australia wants to become an embedded top-five-selling brand in Australia with more than 70,000 sales per annum and some 15 new models set to be rolled out across 2024 and 2025.

The global debut timing of the supercar is not confirmed and if it is does ever arrive here, Maciver was clear the opportunity lies more in marketing than sales.

“If we were able to bring a supercar like that that could act as a halo model,” he said.

“Is there big volume in it? Unlikely.

“But could we find a few homes if the performance is there and the value is there? I’m sure we could.

“Would it act as a really strong technology halo for the brand? Absolutely.”

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