GWM saves the weekend with BYD Shark 6 PHEV-bashing diesel hybrids that could power the GWM Cannon Alpha, Tank 500 & more

GWM is breaking ranks with most of the car industry with a new family of diesel-powered four-cylinder hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).

Expected to be deployed across the company’s range of SUVs and commercial vehicles starting from next year, these engines will give the Chinese brand a different selling point in a hybrid electrification market that is almost completely petrol-engine aligned.

Confirmed by GWM Chief Technology Officer, Nicole Wu, at last week’s China Auto Show in Beijing, the diesel hybrids reflect the brand’s desire to offer the right engine for as many buyers as possible.

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“We are developing diesel hybrids,” she told the Australian media.

"(We are developing) multiple powertrain systems, to provide high-efficiency engines, combined with transmission and motors, including diesel, petrol, hybrid and plug-in hybrid.

Asked how these could meet increasingly-restrictive global emissions regulations, Wu said that GWM has a number of innovations under development, but stopped short of revealing what they are.

“For the emissions such as NOx (nitrogen oxide) we have technical solutions,” she revealed.

“We have both hybrid or plug-in hybrid diesels (coming)… (Consumers will be able to) choose what you want.”

China inevitably will be the first market to gain these diesel hybrids, starting from early next year, with the rest of the world planned to follow suit as required after that.

“Maybe the first quarter of 2027,” Wu revealed. “That really depends on the real situation in each market.”

Other details are scant, but it is understood that the hybrid and PHEV diesels will be available in all engine capacity configurations, including GWM’s coming big 3.0-litre four-cylinder unit, as well as the existing 2.0-litre and 2.4-litre sizes.

Additionally, they will be used in both the longitudinal-engined, four-wheel-drive body-on-frame applications such as the Cannon Alpha ute and its Tank 500 and smaller Tank 300 siblings, as well as transverse-engined two-wheel-drive vehicles across the GWM range.

More specifically, it is likely that the longitudinal diesel utes and 4WDs will come in either the company’s new EV-first Hi4-Z extended-range EV tech and more off-road focussed Hi4-T PHEV flagship, while the transverse models will come in a simpler hybrid-diesel format.

According to GWM Chief Engineer and Technical Director at GWM Vehicle Integration Centre, Adam Thomson, hybrid technologies are largely interchangeable regardless of fuel type, meaning that petrol and diesel-based hybrid tech can be shared if necessary.

“Emission treatment systems on a diesel engine, built for a conventional car and a hybrid car, are similar,” he explained. “The solution to the emissions issue is actually the same one.”

Watch this space as we’ll let you know more soon.