Exploring GWM's Hi4 hybrid all-wheel drive - Tank 500 Hi4-T and Haval H6 PHEV AWD sampled in Australia

Given the fervour about electrification, you’d expect that every Chinese carmaker would be heading down that path with great intent, but it would seem that not everyone believes that a fully-electric agenda is the only way forward. With good reason, because there’s still a place in the world for the traditional internal combustion mill, and there’s certainly a place for the middle ground, straddling both electrification and fossil fuel.

Hybrids aren’t the end-all point, of course, but the format’s recent renaissance among automakers (Chinese included) means that there’s a belief that there’s still plenty to play for in the game with this one, across the globe. If anything, it provides players with alternative solutions to carry business forward in the short to medium term, until electrification truly comes of age.

One of those standing resolute in the hybrid camp is Great Wall Motor. While the carmaker has electric-only solutions (and a very significant presence in the EV battery market, through its Svolt entity), its portfolio is still largely made up of products that utilise electrification in supplementary fashion rather than as the primary one.

The belief in hybrids and a multi-powertrain approach – with EV somewhat in the background and FCEV on the periphery of things – was highlighted during its Tech Day 2025 presentation, held in Melbourne, Australia a while back, with the event very much a showcase of its Hi4 (Hybrid Intelligent 4WD) technology.

While primarily Australian-centric in its presentation, the pitch of the tech at the event suggests that the automaker is looking at a significant push along this front in the coming future, and not just for that market.

At present, its Hi4 architecture stack consists of the Hi4 (now in Gen 2 form) dual-motor, two-speed dedicated hybrid transmission series/parallel system for family SUVs such as the Haval H6 and B07, the Hi4-Z dual-motor, three-speed series/parallel system for general off-road models such as the Tank 500, and the Hi4-T, a non-decoupled 4WD, nine-speed hydraulic AT parallel system for hardcore off-road use on ladder-frame models such as the Tank 700, 500 and 300 as well as the Cannon pick-up,

In the near future, another Hi4 pillar is set to emerge, classified under an extreme off-road category and occupying the top end of the shelf. Alphabet suffix aside, the goal of the line-up is uniform, which is to provide a wide variety of AWD solutions to meet diverse operating scenarios and driver needs.

While not specifically mentioned, the automaker also has a variation of the base Hi4 called the Hi4 Performance, which is a dual-motor, four-speed dedicated hybrid transmission series/parallel set-up meant for mid to larger-sized platforms. The latter will be seen on the upcoming Wey G9 MPV, which was originally set to be introduced here before the end of the year, but is now expected to debut early next year, with CKD production already having begun at EPMB’s plant in Melaka.

For markets such as Australia, which is the leading RHD market for the brand, the push will come with the Hi4 and Hi4-T, and it was with the Tank 500 that the latter was sampled on the former GM proving ground at Lang Lang, which GWM is renting from the facility’s present owner, Vinfast, for its field R&D work.

The chosen flavour to highlight the vehicle was naturally an off-road one, intermediate in its challenge, and with a mechanical four-wheel drive system with a propeller shaft and three differential locks, you’d expect the 500 and its Hi4-T system to ace it, which it obviously did. Should it get here, it’s unlikely that many would go about bashing it about in this manner, but those that do can rest assured the car will be more than up for it.

A long road drive out from Melbourne on a bunch of Hi4-T 500s – arranged for us following the event – allowed a more familiar canvas to gauge the SUV. The takeaway from the urban escapade largely mirrors the findings with the 500 here (cosseting ride, if a bit devoid of feel and soft around the edges), with the exception being that there was a bit more go when the pedal was pushed. No surprise, as there’s 408 PS (402 hp or 300 kW) and 750 Nm of torque, which is ahead of the 346 PS and 648 Nm on the Tank 500 here.

It’s a neat enough package, pleasant for long urban jaunts, but capable of brawling with terrain should you see fit. Should GWM want to pitch Hi4-T here, it could well make its way over as a small-scale product, but it won’t be cheap, given that the 500 we have is already close to the RM330k mark.

The event also highlighted an aspect usually not prioritised by Chinese manufacturers, which is paying attention to ride and handling beyond the scope of the domestic market and adopting the usual one-size-fits-all approach, this being accomplished through dedicated, market-specific steering and suspension tuning.

For Australia (and New Zealand), it comes in the form of a project called AT1 (Australian Tune 1), which localises the ride and handling of models to optimise them for those markets The work is led by Rob Trubiani, former lead vehicle dynamics expert at Holden, who is now leading GWM Australia’s tuning efforts in adapting models for Australian road conditions.

With a deep understanding of local road feel and tuning vehicles for Australian tastes, Trubiani and his team have been working on steering calibration and damper tunes on a number of models, namely the Cannon Alpha diesel and HEV/PHEV variants as well as the Haval H6, both in its petrol and HEV/PHEV 2WD and AWD guises.

The work involved countless steering calibration changes – through runs on public and proving ground roads – and significant damper changes on the models (40 for the Cannon Alpha, and 60 for the H6), with the specifications of the final tune now being incorporated as factory standard settings for units bound for Australia and New Zealand.

No better way than to note improvements or changes than through a direct back-to-back comparison, and this is precisely what was served up, with each driver having a go around the interior course at Lang Lang in the baseline version of a model before switching over to the one with an AT1 tune.

While there was improvement in the tuned version of the Cannon Alpha diesel, notably in the speed of the steering’s response, the gains were not as marked as that on the H6, with both the HEV and PHEV showing a distinct lift in steering feel and ride aspects as well as the vehicle’s reaction to larger steering input.

On the untouched baseline mules, the steering had a vague, soft response and needed more small corrective adjustments into turns, and the ride had that wallowy feel common to Chinese-tuned cars over patchy surfaces, elements that were all tightened up on the AT1 demonstrators, with that of the steering linearity in particular being especially notable.

I asked Trubiani how open the automaker was to all the effort needed and time taken to accomplish the task, and he said that the brand had been very receptive to all the feedback and supportive of the undertaking, with there being plenty of collaboration between the R&D team in China and the Australian team.

Not that the tune would work wonders here, given that our road surfaces differ quite a bit from Australian blacktop, but it shows what can be done if a manufacturer bothers about such things, and it looks like GWM is, because closer to home, local tuning has also been carried out on the Wey G9’s suspension.

This is to improve the ride for local conditions as well as on the powertrain to cater for the performance expected by Malaysian buyers, including putting the G9 through its paces up Genting to suitably tailor the powertrain response. Hopefully, we’ll see more of this in future products.

Finally, the event also finally allowed a better gauge of the facelifted Haval H6, which was trialled very briefly in China back in 2024 over a few hundred metres at the automaker’s R&D test course in Baoding. The sampling this round was far more extensive, involving the differences brought about by the AT1 suspension tuning at Lang Lang and through a nearly 40 km-long road drive.

As can be seen in the photos, the H6 facelift for Australia features both front and rear visual revisions as per China, as opposed to the Thai-market version, which has the new front but retains the rear end of the current vehicle. Indication is that the facelift is some time away from getting here, so it’s anyone’s guess as to which derriere will appear when it does make its way over.

What is almost certain is that it will not arrive in the powertrain guise as seen during the event, be it the PHEV 2WD or PHEV Hi4. Although the PHEV is available in Thailand, word is that the SUV will continue to be fronted by the HEV system here. While we can expect to see plug-in hybrids from the brand coming our way, with the Wey G9 getting the ball rolling, the scope will be more inherently focused, away from the bread and butter.

Cost has much to do with it, of course. On a mainstream offering, where sizeable volume is needed and a cheaper solution is present, it’s doubtful buyers would pay more for something that they’re not going to benefit from, unless they’re willing to wring the most out of it. Additionally, PHEVs really work best from an equational point of view if you’re fastidious about charging them, and discipline when there is a constant fallback in the form of a petrol mill is, with the rare exception, not going to be there.

The H6 HEV has worked well from a commercial viewpoint because of its price, so to expect buyers to fork out more – especially in the fluid price environment we’re in now – for what are incremental gains in performance (in 2WD form) would be a stretch. While combined power output from the PHEV 2WD system is higher (326 PS to the HEV’s 243 PS), the system torque gains just 10 Nm from the 530 Nm of the HEV, and in low-speed city driving there really is no fundamental difference in performance or feel.

There is with the Hi4 though, with its additional 204 PS (201 hp, or 150 kW) rear motor and the combined 364 PS and 760 Nm from its system elevating the presentation perceptibly. The road course, which was around a very large loop running down from Lang Lang, showed not just improvements in tractability, but also cohesion. The AT1 suspension tuning probably played its part, but the AWD system provides this one with quite the trick.

The question is, would local buyers pay even more for the Hi4, even in its HEV form? The answer is likely no. Away from that, the refreshed H6 feels familiar for the most, even with the revised interior (new steering and gearshift lever, larger central touchscreen, Coffee OS 3.0), down to the front seats, which continue to fall a bit short in terms of length and support.

It may be a shame that we won’t see the Hi4 in the Haval H6, but as mentioned earlier, the system is set to make its way here in products besides the Wey G9. One of these is the Haval Raptor, which we are told has been earmarked for Malaysia next year. So, expect to hear more about the Hi4 in the following 12 months.

GALLERY: GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T