Announced at the Beijing Motor Show, the world's first flex plug-in hybrid car will be the SUV from GWM's off-road division, which arrives in the coming days
Tank, GWM’s off-road SUV division, has just announced, at the Beijing Motor Show, the plug-in flex hybrid version of the Tank 300. It is the first engine with this combination in the world.
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The project was developed in partnership with Bosch, at a cost of approximately R$ 16 million. Asked why the Tank 300 and not the Haval H6 (which uses a 1.5 engine and has more sales volume), the executives explained that the project ran in parallel, but the fact that the Tank’s 2.0 is only plug-in hybrid, unlike the H6 block, which has a full hybrid option, and which has not yet been finalized.
The Tank 300 flex is already homologated to start being sold in the Brazilian market and should arrive at dealerships in the coming weeks. Otherwise, the Tank 300 does not differ at all from the model we already know. It maintains the electrified system, without confirmation if it had a change in power (394 hp) and torque (76 kgfm) numbers, combined with a nine-speed transmission and 4×4 traction. AutoPapo will test the new Tank 300 here in China.
In an interview with the Brazilian press, GWM chairman Jack Wey says that it is a solution for the basic market, given the importance that the country has for the brand’s operations. And therefore, it deserved an announcement on a global stage. Asked if he could apply the technology in other markets, such as India, he points out that the demand for ethanol there is still low. The next step will be to make the H6’s 1.5-liter engine more flexible, which should consume another R$ 14 million in investments.
