2026 GWM Tank 300 Hi4-T PHEV Ultra Review

This is not the polite kind of plug-in hybrid that whispers about school runs and tax benefits. The 2026 GWM Tank 300 Hi4-T PHEV turns up with 300kW, 750Nm and the sort of launch violence that makes a ladder-frame off-roader feel deeply confused about its own purpose.

We measured 0-100km/h in 5.97 seconds in a boxy 4x4 with a full-size spare on the back. That is ridiculous, and I mean that in both the complimentary and mildly concerned sense.

It also starts at $55,990 drive-away, while the Ultra we drove is $59,990 drive-away. For that money you get a big battery, proper low-range hardware, a plush cabin, V2L and enough torque to make the tyres question their career choices.

But the Tank 300 PHEV is not perfect. The fundamentals are strong, the value is almost silly, but the software, drive-mode logic and some cabin usability details still need the sort of polish GWM keeps promising it is working on.

The Lux already looks strong, but I would spend the extra $4000 for the Ultra. The front diff lock, Nappa leather trim, underbody protection and better front seats make sense on a vehicle pretending to be both luxury toy and serious 4x4.

The short version is this: the Tank 300 Hi4-T PHEV is very hard to ignore on price. At $59,990 drive-away for the Ultra, it sits thousands below larger premium PHEV off-roaders like the Denza B5, while making the Suzuki Jimny XL look very basic if you are shopping on equipment, power and towing ability rather than tiny-trail charm.

2026 GWM Tank 300 Pricing

• Lux PHEV $55,990 drive-away
• Ultra PHEV $59,990 drive-away

I have always liked the way the Tank 300 looks, and the PHEV does not mess with the formula. It is boxy, upright and retro without looking like a cheap costume.

The Sundrift Sand colour - an exclusive for the PHEV - suits it perfectly. It gives the Tank a proper desert-trail look, and the proportions are still one of the reasons people buy these even if they never leave the bitumen.

The PHEV gets 18-inch alloy wheels and specific rear badging, including the Hi4-T markers. I would lose some of the blue-accent PHEV jewellery, but the basic shape does the heavy lifting.

The LED headlights are bright, the vertical tail-lights work, and the tailgate-mounted full-size spare is exactly what you’d want to see on this sort of car. We also like the side-hinged rear door, even if it needs room behind the car to open properly.

Our biggest exterior gripe is the tyre choice. The Michelin Primacy SUV tyres help ride comfort and road manners, but they are not the tyre I would choose for a 750Nm off-roader, and they are definitely not the tyre I would choose before heading into proper mud or rock work.

The front cabin is where the Tank 300 continues to punch above its price. Cover the badge and the broad strokes genuinely feel expensive: big vents, soft surfaces, chunky switchgear, Nappa leather in the Ultra and a generally plush ambience.

I am actually glad this car keeps the familiar pre-facelift-style cabin rather than moving to a more generic screen-heavy layout. The dramatic vents and bulky centre console suit the Tank’s personality.

The Ultra adds heated and ventilated front seats, driver massage, driver memory, a heated steering wheel and 64-colour ambient lighting. The active noise cancellation also makes the PHEV cabin impressively quiet, to the point where the silence is one of the first things we noticed.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen is snappy enough and supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The digital instrument cluster is also clear, and the 360-degree camera is genuinely useful in a vehicle with a tall bonnet.

But GWM still makes you work too hard for some simple things. Seat ventilation sits in the screen, some buttons do not always register cleanly, the off-road menus are confusing, and some of the translations feel unfinished. When a setting looks like software code, it makes you start to wonder how close to final the interface really is.

The cupholders are also annoyingly awkward. A big coffee can get trapped down there, which is a small problem until it becomes your problem every single morning.

The second row is genuinely comfortable. I had good knee room, good headroom and a natural seating position, which is not always guaranteed in body-on-frame SUVs.

The seat base and backrest angle are well judged, and the Nappa leather-appointed trim in the Ultra helps the rear feel more premium than the price suggests. It is not just a front-seat luxury act.

Rear passengers get air vents, USB-A ports, map pockets, a fold-down centre armrest and cupholders. I would have liked heated rear seats at this price, especially given how much else GWM throws at the car.

The carpet is hilariously plush for something that is meant to go bush. It feels lovely, but I would be fitting proper all-weather mats immediately if I owned one.

The PHEV system costs the Tank 300 some cargo space. Boot capacity is 360 litres with the rear seats up, which is down on the regular Tank 300 and not especially generous for the size of the vehicle.

The battery sits under the rear cargo area, so the charging cable, tyre gear and safety equipment also end up competing for space. It is usable, but it is not a brilliantly packaged boot.

Fold the rear seats and capacity expands to 1520 litres. You need to flip the bases before dropping the backrests, but once it is done the Tank becomes much more useful for bulky gear.

There is a 12V outlet and a 220V-style rear socket, and the PHEV also supports up to 6kW vehicle-to-load from the charge port. For camping, tools or powering gear away from home, that is genuinely valuable.

Towing is another strong point. The Tank 300 PHEV is rated to tow 3000kg braked, with a 610kg payload, so it is serious on paper. Just remember that a heavy tow ball load will eat into payload quickly once people and gear are on board.

The Tank 300 carries a five-star ANCAP safety rating, and the PHEV brings a broad list of driver assistance and passive safety gear. Standard equipment includes seven airbags, including a centre airbag, plus ISOFIX child-seat points.

Both Lux and Ultra get autonomous emergency braking, front collision warning with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane-keep assistance, lane-departure warning, emergency lane keeping, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert with braking, traffic sign recognition and rear collision warning.

There is also driver fatigue monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring, hill ascent and descent control, a reversing camera and rear parking sensors. The 360-degree camera system is one of the genuinely useful inclusions, especially off-road or in tight car parks.

The big improvement is the adaptive cruise control calibration. Earlier Tank systems could feel clumsy and nervous, but this tune is much more liveable.

It is still not invisible. Some warnings and menus could be cleaner, and GWM’s safety tech still has room to feel more natural. But I would no longer call the driver assistance a deal-breaker.

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The Hi4-T system combines a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor mounted through the driveline and a nine-speed hybrid automatic transmission. The petrol engine alone makes 180kW and 380Nm, but combined output is the headline: 300kW and 750Nm.

That is a stupid amount of muscle in this kind of vehicle. Officially GWM claims 0-100km/h in 6.3 seconds, but I recorded 5.97 seconds, and even with wheelspin it felt properly rapid.

There is some hesitation when you ask for power in normal driving. The engine and electric motor do not always blend with total smoothness, and there are moments where the Tank thinks before it moves.

Once it decides, though, it absolutely hauls. In the more aggressive modes the front rises, the rear squats and the tyres start doing more work than they probably signed up for.

Compared with a Suzuki Jimny XL, which makes 75kW and 130Nm, this is from another planet. Compared with the Denza B5’s 400kW and 760Nm, the Tank is not the outright numbers king, but it is much cheaper and keeps a more traditional mechanical 4x4 layout.

The battery is a big part of why this PHEV feels meaningful. At 37.1kWh, it is larger than what I usually expect in a plug-in hybrid, and GWM claims 115km of EV-only range on the NEDC cycle.

In normal use, that means many owners could commute during the week on electricity and keep the petrol engine for longer trips, towing or remote travel. That is the PHEV argument at its best.

DC charging peaks at 50kW, with GWM claiming 30-80 per cent in 24 minutes. On AC, the claimed 15-100 per cent wallbox charge time is 6.5 hours, while a normal domestic socket is listed at up to 14.4 hours.

The claimed combined fuel consumption is 1.9L/100km, but as with every PHEV, that number depends heavily on charging behaviour. GWM also quotes 8.3L/100km when the engine is operating in a low state of charge, which is the more useful figure for long-distance reality.

The total claimed combined range is 955km from a full battery and 70-litre fuel tank. That is the sort of number that makes sense in Australia, where fast charging is not always where you want it and a normal fuel stop still matters.

Around town, the Tank 300 PHEV is surprisingly pleasant. It starts quietly, rolls away on electric power and feels far more refined than its ladder-frame construction might suggest.

The ride tune is good, even before the full Australian AT1 tune arrives. GWM says this is an interim improvement, and I would judge the car on what I drove rather than what is promised, but it is already comfortable and compliant.

The body still moves around because this is a tall, heavy, body-on-frame 4x4. Push it hard and you feel the weight and height, but it is not sloppy in the way old-school off-roaders often are.

The improved adaptive cruise control is a major step forward. It now keeps a more sensible distance, holds the lane more naturally and does not feel like it is constantly fighting me.

The confusing part is the drive-mode logic. Expert mode, sport behaviour, towing mode and towing driving mode all feel like they were designed by people who knew the hardware intimately but forgot normal owners would need to understand it quickly.

The fundamentals are good. The calibration and interface are where GWM still has homework.

We haven’t completed our dedicated off-road test in this car yet, so we won’t pretend we have dragged it through everything Australia can throw at it. But the hardware list is serious.

The Tank 300 PHEV has a part-time 4x4 system with 2H, 4H and 4L, plus a low-range transfer case. The Ultra adds an electric front differential lock on top of the rear differential lock fitted across the PHEV range.

Ground clearance is 222mm, approach angle is 32 degrees, departure angle is 33 degrees and breakover angle is 22 degrees. GWM also points to its Beer O’Clock Hill run in production specification on road tyres, which is a handy credibility marker.

The concern remains those tyres. Michelin Primacy SUV rubber is fine on road, but for proper off-road work I would be budgeting for a more suitable all-terrain set immediately.

Against a Jimny, the Tank is larger, heavier and not as naturally narrow-track cheeky. But it brings a lot more power, payload, towing capacity and cabin comfort. Against a Denza B5, the Tank is less exotic and less powerful, but it is also far cheaper and uses a more familiar mechanical 4x4 approach.

GWM backs the Tank 300 with a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. The hybrid battery is covered for eight years, also with unlimited kilometres, and roadside assistance runs for seven years.

Servicing is capped for seven years. The first service is due at 12 months or 10,000km, then intervals move to 12 months or 15,000km.

The listed capped-price service costs are $320, $460, $460, $685, $685, $1075 and $370. That sixth service is the ugly one, but the overall ownership package is still competitive.

This is also where the PHEV equation depends on your behaviour. If you charge regularly and use the EV range during the week, the running-cost case improves sharply.

If you never plug it in, you are just carrying a large battery around and leaning more heavily on the petrol engine. That is true of every PHEV, not just this one.

Lux PHEV

• 2.0-litre turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid powertrain
• 300kW and 750Nm combined outputs
• Nine-speed hybrid automatic transmission
• Part-time 4x4 with 2H, 4H and 4L
• Low-range transfer case
• Rear differential lock
• All-terrain mode selection
• Towing driving mode
• Tank turn assist and crawl control
• 37.1kWh battery
• 115km NEDC EV range
• 50kW DC fast charging capability
• Up to 6kW vehicle-to-load
• 3000kg braked towing capacity
• 18-inch two-tone alloy wheels
• Side steps and roof rails
• Electric sunroof
• Two-piece chassis guard board
• LED headlights and LED tail-lights
• Sequential LED indicators
• Power-folding exterior mirrors
• Smart keyless entry
• Rear privacy glass
• 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
• 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Bluetooth and DAB+ digital radio
• Nine-speaker audio system
• Wireless phone charger
• USB-A and USB-C ports
• Dual-zone climate control
• Leatherette seats
• Power-adjustable front seats
• 60:40 split-fold rear seats with centre armrest
• Seven airbags
• Adaptive cruise control
• Autonomous emergency braking
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Lane-keep assistance
• Rear cross-traffic alert with braking
• Traffic sign recognition
• Driver fatigue monitoring
• Tyre pressure monitoring

Ultra PHEV

• Front differential lock
• Michelin Primacy SUV tyres
• Three-piece underbody protection
• Nappa leather-accented seats
• Heated and ventilated front seats
• Driver massage function
• Driver memory
• Eight-way power driver’s seat
• Four-way driver lumbar adjustment
• Heated steering wheel
• Premium nine-speaker audio system
• Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
• 64-colour ambient lighting
• Exterior mirror memory

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The Tank 300 Hi4-T PHEV is one of those cars that makes me laugh because the spec sheet sounds made up. A plug-in hybrid ladder-frame 4x4 with 300kW, 750Nm, 115km of claimed EV range, 3000kg towing and a sub-$60K drive-away price should not really exist.

But it does, and most of it works. It is fast, quiet, comfortable, well equipped and loaded with the kind of mechanical 4x4 hardware that matters.

I would buy the Ultra over the Lux. The front diff lock, Nappa trim, better seats and extra underbody protection justify the small step up.

The issues are not minor, though. The interface is still messy, some controls are buried or inconsistent, the tyres are not right for the full brief, and the PHEV system has moments of hesitation.

Even so, the value and capability are too strong to dismiss. If GWM cleans up the software and gives the Tank a tyre package that matches the torque, this could go from impressive to genuinely excellent.