Chinese automakers might be getting the most attention for their electric vehicles, but as Great Wall Motor has just shown at Auto Shanghai, the country’s engineers are just as capable when it comes to developing and building gas power. GWM has just announced a brand-new 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, an engine bound for its largest Tank brand SUVs as well as for cars. An engine it calls a “secret weapon in luxury markets,” where it could go after similarly sized engines in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
GWM’s hot-vee engine, where the turbos are mounted between the cylinder banks, looks the part. It also looks shockingly narrow, at least compared with other current V8 engines we’ve seen. That likely gives it the ability to put the engine and its long automatic transmission in more places and more vehicles.
Big V8 Could Power Luxury Cars And Off-Roaders
The automaker reportedly has two different plans for this V8, and they’re both very different. The first is to create a new luxury brand under the GWM family. Drive.au reports that the new brand will sit above its existing Wey premium brand and that it could be called Confidence Auto. A brand name that may sound good at home, but doesn’t exactly inspire confidence with us. GWM’s second plan is the more interesting of the two. It’s going to put this in a Tank.
Not just any tank, but future models of the GWM Tank off-roaders. Tank currently sells four rugged off-road SUVs, the 300, 400, 500, and 700. The names denote size, not engine displacement, and they include retro-stylish SUVs and large luxury off-road competitors. They’re also largely copies of competitors like the Toyota Land Cruiser.
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The concept is destined for production, and may spawn pure electric and hydrogen versions.
Drive reported that GWM’s right-drive market head James Yang said, “This [V8] is something that is definitely under consideration, and for right-hand-drive markets, it’s definitely something we are still considering.”
The Tank 300, which is the model most likely to get the V8 according to the report, is sort of a Chinese take on the modern Bronco. Retro styling combined with real 4×4 drive. It has locking differentials and a low-range transfer case. It also has options the Bronco doesn’t, including hybrid and diesel power.
V8 Will Be Offered As PHEV
While we assume that this large-displacement V8 is going to be quite powerful, GWM didn’t specify its projected output. It did say, though, that the engine will get a bit of a boost. It will be offered as a PHEV model, utilizing the V8 only when the battery runs low or when towing.
In a line that makes all of us a little happy, Tank brand VP Gu Yukun said at the show that “We still believe that new energy [hybrid/electric power] cannot [replace] the V8 engine.”
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This is not GWM’s first eight-cylinder, but it is the company’s first meant for automotive. Strangely, the original eight from the brand was a flat eight-cylinder. Designed not to go into a car or an SUV or even a heavy truck, but in fact meant for a motorcycle. GWM called the flat-eight the only eight-cylinder motorcycle in the world, and it displaced around 2.0 liters.
Source: Drive.au
