GWM has confirmed the Tank 700 is being lined up for V8 power, and that’s no small thing. It is a butch, large, square, off-roady thing, probably wearing a spare wheel on its backside and making Toyota executives a trifle nervous.
Speaking with ANZ media at the Beijing Auto Show 2026, GWM Chairman Jack Wei said the Tank 700 is planned to use a newly developed V8 engine. You can hear the global intent from the other side of the Pacific. China may be sprinting toward electrification, but GWM has spotted that Australia and New Zealand still contain people who hear the words big SUV and V8 and lose their sh1t.
The company has not given timing, local confirmation, or a price. GWM wants the Tank 700 to sit above its current off-road range with proper luxury, serious hardware, and an engine plan designed for buyers outside China. It seems like a lot of R&D to go into a segment that is showing signs of shift, at least to PHEV-dom.
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ABOVE: GWM Tank 700 exterior, cabin, and powertrain details from Beijing and official images.
The V8 is not just for show
Wei put it plainly. “In the future, the Tank 700 will also use a V8 engine. The supercar uses a high-performance V8, while the Tank 700 uses a normal V8,” he said. “This is completely opposite to the current environment or trend in China; it does not fit the Chinese market. We developed this V8 to meet the needs of more global users, in markets such as Australia and New Zealand.”
That is deliciously unfashionable. While half the industry is busy pretending every buyer wants a silent pod with a subscription menu and the emotional range of a microwave, GWM is preparing a big off-roader with a proper bent-eight. There is something wonderfully perverse about a Chinese carmaker building a V8 for export markets while older brands try to make downsizing sound like a treat. Our markets are minnows by comparison but appear to have attracted special notice. It suggests, as it did for Japan and Korea, that China likes to experiment in Australia.
The Tank 700 already sits as the flagship SUV in the Tank line-up, with a square-shouldered presence that makes ordinary crossovers look like damp luggage. The Hi4-Z platform in China gives the model a technical base, but a future V8 would give it the sort of character buyers still understand without reading a brochure, or pretending torque graphs are foreplay.
Toyota and Nissan should be sweating
This is where the existing brands have a problem. Toyota and Nissan have lived for years on loyalty and reputation alone. The comforting idea that buyers will pay more for a familiar badge is starting to look expensive. The bosses of both Honda and Toyota have recently expressed alarm at China’s progress, which they feel they can’t compete with.
If GWM lands the Tank 700 at a lower price than the opposition, with a heavy equipment list, proper off-road ability, and a V8 under the bonnet, the old guard will find it difficult to match the value equation. Price, equipment, value, and ability are no longer separate columns on a spreadsheet. Buyers see the whole lot at once, and they are becoming much less sentimental. Toyota’s Australian sales were about 25% down early in 2026, and its global profit picture is not sparkling either, with AP reporting a 37% profit fall as Toyota cut its forecast due to tariffs. Japan and Korea have been unable to suggest any kind of competitive product or pricing, continuing the same product ethos but increasing prices instead of any kind of reduction.
Toyota still has formidable trust in Australia, especially with LandCruiser and Prado buyers, but trust has to drag price behind it like a grand piano. Its Australian sales are down 25%. Nissan has Patrol, which remains deeply loved by a certain sort of person with sand in his socks and fuel receipts in his glovebox. Neither brand can assume badge gravity will do all the work if GWM turns up with more gear for less money and a V8 story that feels designed for this market rather than reluctantly translated into it.
Credibility might be a different mountain to climb. A V8 Tank 700 would need to feel sorted, not merely loud. Towing, cooling, dirt-road durability, dealer backup, parts supply, and resale all matter once the launch lights go out and owners are left with the monthly repayments. GWM has made huge gains, but the premium off-road crowd is not quite the same audience that fancies a sharp deal on a Cannon ute.
The GF supercar connection
GWM also confirmed its all-new GF supercar will use a 4.0-litre twin-turbo hybrid V8, with that car expected to be revealed in 2027. The Tank 700 engine is described differently, so this is not simply a supercar unit dropped into a ladder-frame lunchbox and sent into the dunes with a packed sandwich.
This says much about GWM’s confidence. Once treated as cheap background noise that needed relaunching, GWM is now talking V8s, supercars, hybrid performance, premium off-roaders, and global buyer taste in the same breath. That would have sounded deranged a decade ago. The boardroom noticed lazy legacy brands and decided to move on them with more than just a hostile takeover bid.
Australia and New Zealand buyers still respond to muscular SUVs, towing promise, long-distance comfort, and cars that do more than commute politely. If Tank gets the pricing right, the 700 could become a rather awkward dinner guest for brands that have spent years assuming the table belonged only to them.
No local launch timing has been announced, so nobody should be hurling a deposit at a dealer just yet. GWM is not merely filling gaps anymore. It is picking off known models, one by one.
And with a V8 Tank 700, it may have picked a very entertaining one.
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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