GWM is best known for affordable SUVs and utes, but it has grand aspirations to take on Ferrari – and it’s bringing out the big guns to do it.
First announced last year, GWM’s upcoming supercar will be based on a carbon-fibre monocoque and powered by an electrified, twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine mounted midship.
Though it has yet to be revealed, its underpinnings – dubbed GF – were on display at this year’s Beijing motor show, as were some sketches and shadowy teasers.
“The supercar project is benchmarking Ferrari. It is expected to be revealed around 2027. The performance brand is called GWM GF,” GWM chairman Jack Wei told Australian and New Zealand media via a translator in Beijing.
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The new supercar is being developed under GWM’s chief engineer and technical director of vehicle integration, Adam Thomson, who has experience in the supercar space having previously been the chief engineer at McLaren.
He has referred to GWM-GF as being the name of the automaker’s new performance vehicle platform “supporting a range of new products coming soon”.
“When the supercar becomes available, it will become available to Australia and New Zealand,” GWM Australia and New Zealand chief operating officer John Kett subsequently told New Zealand media.
“How we sell it, where we sell it – that’ll be a great conversation in 12 months’ time. But there’s not one element of the GWM portfolio that we can’t have. We just need to make a business case for it.”
The V8 engine used by the supercar will actually be different to the one being developed for GWM SUVs such as the Tank 700, though it could share some components.
GWM has acknowledged its investment in V8 powertrains is unusual in the context of a Chinese market embracing electric powertrains and plug-in hybrid and extended-range electric vehicles with small four-cylinder engines.
“This V8 strategy is not aligned with current trends in China, but is designed for global markets,” said Mr Wei.
“Both high-performance and off-road V8s are being developed for global use… In the future, high-capacity engines will likely include hybrid systems to meet CO2 emissions requirements.”
GWM has previously confirmed it was developing a full-size pickup aimed at the US market, which would be an ideal application for a V8 engine. Plans for a US-market entry remain in limbo given the tariff situation there.
Nevertheless, GWM has forged ahead with development of its two V8 engines and it appears there was never any thought of engineering a purely electric supercar like BYD has done with its Yangwang U9.
“We have a V8, because it’s a V8,” Mr Thomson told CarExpert. “It also delivers the emotional engagement that a supercar customer is really looking for.
“In terms of what we’re trying to achieve with this product in this position, EV isn’t the solution. In the way battery technologies currently are able to charge and discharge power, the range you get from that battery, the power-to-weight ratio – so the density of power that you get for the number of kilos of that battery in the vehicle – currently don’t lend themselves to a product that you can use in the way that we are trying to deliver this car.
“If you think about electric supercars that are in existence, they’re very niche – Rimac [Nevera], [Pininfarina] Battista, U9. If you look at what those cars are and what they’re capable of, they deliver a huge amount of power but possibly for a very short period of time.
“They are an exercise in showing what’s possible with the technology, but we’re saying perhaps that technology isn’t able to deliver what we’re trying to achieve with this car.”
Instead, the GF-based supercar was displayed in Beijing with a central carbon monocoque, a P4 electric motor at the front, a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, and a P2 motor at the rear.
The supercar will also use a nine-speed automatic transmission configured to work with a hybrid system and a P2 motor.
“The decision to make the car a hybrid was based on performance delivery. To achieve the targets we wanted to achieve, we needed to electrify the powertrain in some way,” explained Mr Thomson.
In addition to launching the GWM-GF platform under the new supercar, GWM is rolling out what it calls GWM One – a new electrical architecture incorporating the software and control systems that manage everything from the powertrain to the active safety and driver assist features.
GWM One could be used in conjunction with GF, which Mr Thomson explains is the “powertrain or structural architecture”.
The automaker hasn’t released specifications such as power and torque outputs for the GF supercar’s electrified V8 powertrain.
“We’ve defined very clear goals for what the vehicle is capable of in the performance dimensions that we believe matter to the customers who we think are going to engage in the car,” said Mr Thomson.
“We’re not ready to talk about what those are yet at this stage, but they are very firmly decided, and they’re very ambitious. What the hybrid system is able to deliver will be groundbreaking.”
The production supercar is also heading for the track.
“The supercar platform will evolve into a GT3 race car, with a road-going GT3 version as well,” said Mr Wei.
The chairman said motorsport is a “key tool for brand-building and global exposure”.
“GWM is interested in participating in events such as Dakar and potentially other global racing categories, including in Australia,” he said, noting the company had previously considered entering an off-roader in Dakar but withdrew “due to low domestic visibility in China”.
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