Tank V8 all but confirmed for Australia

GWM Australia has confirmed it has formally requested the brand’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 for local showrooms, with a Tank-badged 4x4 the most likely recipient – and a Ferrari-slaying supercar still in the offing.

The trail starts at GWM’s Baoding head office, where chairman Jack Wei flagged where a V8 would best fit within the empire.

He said that a V8 would make sense in a top-spec Tank SUV and that such an engine would be made available its Australian operation for Aussie customers… who have an unabashed love of V8 donks.

“Obviously Jack Wey indicated last year at the Baoding motor show that if we wanted V8 power that that could ideally be suited for something like a Tank and that would be something that would be available to us,” a GWM Australia spokesperson told carsales.

“We have certainly put up our hand,” they said and given the all-new 3.0-litre turbo-diesel that was designed with Australian tastes in mind, it’s clear that GWM sees this country as a key market.

The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 broke cover at the 2025 Shanghai motor show and was engineered from day one to work with electric assistance, reportedly producing 403kW on its own or as much as 735kW in full plug-in hybrid trim.

“We think a V8 engine would be a magnificent sort of range topper in terms of internal combustion,” the spokesperson added.

“But again, don’t forget there are options there to pair that V8 engine with plug-in hardware technology as well,” implying that both regular (read: more affordable) and hybrid versions are likely.

“We don’t have the details just yet but remember that V8 engine was produced to be paired with electrification,” the spokesperson said.

“So the likely outcome is that we have some level of electrification and plug-in hardware technology attached to that, which can give us that performance of that mix but then squeezing efficiency out of it at the same time as well.”

It’s already confirmed for the Tank 700 globally, with Wei making it clear the engine wasn’t built for Chinese buyers at all.

“In the future, the Tank 700 will also use a V8 engine,” he said. “The supercar uses a high-performance V8, while the Tank 700 uses a normal V8.

“This is completely opposite to the current environment or trend in China; it does not fit the Chinese market,” added the billionaire founder.

The supercar is the other half of this story. Unveiled in platform guise only at the 2026 Beijing motor show, the mid-engined GWM GF pairs a carbon fibre monocoque with a hybrid 4.0-litre V8 that could crack 1000kW. 

It’s aimed squarely at the Ferrari SF90 and led by ex-McLaren engineer Adam Thomson. It’s due for a full reveal in 2027. Stay tuned for more details on that one soon.

The sticking point remains the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. GWM Australia has previously conceded a V8 buyer would almost certainly wear an NVES penalty, pushing any V8-powered flagship comfortably past $100,000.

Timing is understood to be sooner rather than later, with some reports suggesting the V8 could be on sale within a GWM Tank vehicle in the latter part of 2027.

Between a Tank flagship and a Ferrari fighter, GWM has just created two very good reasons for V8 fans to keep their peepers peeled.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au