2026 GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV review: Quick drive

The GWM Tank 500 is built for the rough stuff and designed for weekend warriors wanting to disconnect, but the latest addition to the large off-road SUV lineup wants you to plug-in: welcome the Hi4-T, the first plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Tank.

It is the new flagship of the Australian Tank 500 range, sitting atop three existing plugless hybrid model grades. The 2026 GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T is loaded with luxury gear – including Nappa leather, for instance – but comes with five seats instead of seven like hybrid variants.

It’s faster, more powerful, has a proper four-wheel drive system to exploit its ladder chassis, and it teams these with more rear-seat gear than anything that’s designed for mud-plugging should.

Despite its luxury lean, we’ve hit the off-road test track at the old Holden proving ground in Lang Lang, Victoria to see if it can mix manners with mayhem. But is the Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV trying to be so many things to so many people that it compromises its way out of consideration?

Let’s get mudding.

How much does the GWM Tank 500 cost?

The 2026 GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV is offered in a single model grade, priced at $79,990 before on-road costs.

That makes it $4000 pricier than the highest-spec Tank 500 HEV Vanta, and significantly more than $64,490 for the cheapest Tank 500 HEV.

Yet there aren’t many PHEVs based on a rugged ladder chassis – including the Ford Everest, which doesn’t offer PHEV power despite its Ranger ute twin doing so, and nor does the Toyota Prado.

There is the Land Rover Defender PHEV but you’ll need to spend at least $130,000, so the Tank 500 represents decent on-paper value, even if it lacks the Defender’s heritage and likely resale value. 

Fellow Chinese brand BYD will soon offer a plug-in hybrid 4WD competitor in the Denza B8, which arrives in November. Pricing and specifications for Australia are still to be confirmed.

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

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What is the GWM Tank 500 like on the inside?

One word: Opulent.

You step up onto the polished side steps – which electronically lower on approach – and into a super spacious, fully loaded interior with wall-to-wall Nappa leather upholstery mixed with soft and plush carpet, wooden inlays and silver highlights. 

The centre console switches include a bank of buttons, half finished in silver, the rest gloss black, with a chunky shifter in between a mix of both. 

There’s detailed stitching on the leather-clad steering wheel and dashboard, while everything has a border, crown or surround to show its position is intentional, planned and deliberate.

The seat trims have a diamond-pattern that’s followed in the door trims, and the opulent presentation feels perhaps too much – even a little contrived – depending on your personal taste. 

There’s loads of room in the electrically adjustable driver’s seat, which has comfy padding and offers an armchair-like feel as opposed to a hard, hold-you-in sports tilt. 

There’s an analogue clock sitting proud between two air vents and above a row of silver, textured controls for air-conditioning functions, driving mode changes and quick access to the on-board cameras.

The central 14.6-inch touchscreen is crisp, as are the digital instruments for the driver. The console bin is quite deep, the cupholders are big enough (don’t laugh – some brands assume no-one orders anything but a tiny coffee), and there’s a wireless phone charger that actually works.

There’s also a rotary dial that allows you to spin your way to a different driving mode, and for low-range you need to select neutral via the chunky and sturdy shifter before pushing a button, which is sandwiched between locking front and rear diff buttons.

The spaciousness continues to the second row, where there’s more than enough for two people to sit in optimal comfort, and there’s enough space for three shoulder-to-shoulder. You also get climate and seat heating/ventilation controls in the rear.

What’s more, there’s also a 7.0-inch digital screen in the centre rear armrest, which also controls climate and other functions, along with a storage cubby and smartphone charging capability.

The cargo area’s floor is a tad higher than in the HEV, with a 646-litre boot against the HEV’s 795L – expandable to 1400L with the rear seats folded, only 59L less than the HEV. 

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What’s under the bonnet?

The Tank 500 PHEV uses the same 180kW/380Nm 2.0-litre petrol engine as the Tank 500 Hybrid but adds a more potent 120kW/400Nm electric motor and bigger 37.11kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery pack.

EV driving range is 110km on the WLTC cycle or 102km on the stricter WLTP regime, and the combined driving range quoted at 950km. The Tank 500 Hi4-T also has vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability, outputting 6kW to power external electrical appliances.

The battery can be topped up to 80 per cent via a DC fast-charger at up to 50kW in as little as 24 minutes, or in 6.5 hours via an 11kW home charger.

Combined fuel consumption is a tad more than the HEV at around 8.8L/100km, compared to 8.5L/100km for the hybrid, which also has a 10L-larger 80L fuel tank. However, we didn’t have the opportunity to test fuel economy on our quick and dirty off-road launch drive.

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

How does the GWM Tank 500 drive?

Let’s be honest: we would never treat a Tank 500 the way GWM asked us to. Bumpers, paintwork and the obligatory number plate damage from driving too fast while testing the 800mm water wading capability of other off-road claims were all part of the press launch program. 

The Lang Lang proving ground may be most famous among enthusiasts for its high-speed bowl, but the off-road course proved the Tank 500 PHEV can climb any mountain, swallow any rut and storm its way over anything we could throw at it on the day.

We were on the standard tyres – Giti HT71 XRosso 265/60 rubber wrapped around 18-inch alloy wheels – which made its off-road prowess even more impressive. 

There are 11 different driving modes – including Normal, Sport and Eco, as well as Rock, Snow, Sand and the one we’ve chosen today: Mud. An ‘Expert Mode’ – complete with legal disclaimers – allows you to choose custom combinations from the raft of settings and preferences. 

Also helping is the ‘Off-road screen’, which shows information like tyre pressures, pitch and roll angles, whether the front, centre or rear differentials are locked, as well as even air pressure and altitude above sea level.

The drive started with some basic but deep but slippery mud that most weekend warriors would laugh at, quickly painting the Tank 500 PHEV in a wet shade of brown.

Things then became a little more serious with some massive ruts to test the 213mm ground clearance. 

We shifted to Neutral and selected ‘4 Low’ before we carefully managed the throttle to negotiate bathtub-sized canyons, which demonstrated the SUV’s significant suspension articulation as the four-wheel drive system kept things moving.

The petrol engine kicked in as we looked to control the vehicle over questionable terrain, including fording around 350mm of water, far short of its 800mm maximum. 

Approach and departure angles are a relatively generous 29.5- and 24-degrees respectively, with a breakover angle of 22.5-degrees. 

We then tackled a short course with a steep climb – one on which you can’t see anything but sky over the bonnet – where the locking rear diff came in handy. 

The centre screen’s excellent resolution and camera came in handy, allowing us to ‘see through’ the chassis to view the terrain, position the wheels correctly, and stay on course. We also gave the hill descent control a whirl to keep us in check with the nose pointing dramatically to the ground, and it managed the 2830kg Tank 500 commendably.

The Tank 500 Hi4-T is comfortable, spacious and, with a big 3.5 turns lock-to-lock, allowed us to easily position the vehicle where we needed, adjusting when we put the wheels a little too far to one side of the track or the other, with a manageable throttle pedal and confident brake feel, too. 

What does this mean for your weekend? Well, we know you’ll have fun when you arrive, but we can’t tell you much about what to expect from the Tank 500 PHEV along on way until we get a proper drive on public roads. 

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What do you get?

The Tank 500 Hi4-T offers equivalent specification to the high-spec Tank 500 Ultra HEV, but with five seats instead of seven, a unique alloy wheel design, and the addition of the second-row display in the centre rear armrest. 

2025 GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T Plug-in Hybrid highlights:

• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Front, centre and rear locking differentials
• 4H and 4L modes
• Off-road cruise control
• Rain-sensing wipers
• LED headlights
• Automatic high-beam
• Soundproof windscreen
• Power-folding exterior mirrors with puddle lights
• Chrome-accented door handles
• Power-retractable side steps
• Proximity entry with push-button start
• Nappa leather upholstery
• Heated and ventilated front seats
• 8-way power driver’s seat with 4-way lumbar
• Memory and welcome function for driver’s seat
• 6-way power passenger seat
• Tri-zone climate control with second-row controls
• Ventilated outboard rear seats
• Heated steering wheel
• 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
• Head-up display
• 14.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• DAB+ digital radio
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Wireless phone charger
• 12-speaker Infinity sound system
• 64-colour ambient lighting
• Active noise cancellation
• Panoramic sunroof
• Rear privacy glass with manual rear sunshades
• Soundproof rear door glass
• Soft-close tailgate
• Tyre pressure monitoring

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

Is the GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV safe?

The Tank 500 HEV range has a five-star ANCAP safety rating – though this doesn’t apply to the PHEV just yet.

“It should carry over,” GWM Australia marketing chief Steve Maciver previously told CarExpert. “Obviously you need to do the engineering analysis with ANCAP to make sure that the battery pack, the weight of the vehicle, etcetera, won’t impact any of the existing testing that we’ve done.”

Standard safety equipment includes:

• 7 airbags
• Autonomous emergency braking
  • Intersection assist
• Adaptive cruise control
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Lane centring
• Lane-keep assist
• Emergency lane-keep assist
• Front cross-traffic assist
• Rear cross-traffic assist
• Safe exit warning
• Traffic sign recognition
• Surround-view camera
• Front and rear parking sensors

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

How much does the GWM Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV cost to run?

The GWM Tank 500 PHEV is covered by a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, including seven years of roadside assistance. The hybrid battery pack has an eight-year, unlimited-km warranty.

Capped-price servicing is offered for up to seven years, but pricing was not available at the time of publication.

To see how the GWM Tank 500 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

CarExpert’s Take on the GWM Tank 500

The Tank 500 Hi4-T PHEV is an appetising proposition and there’s nothing else quite like it for the money – yet.

Commendable off-road capability blended with a luxurious interior gives it a unique selling point that no rivals currently offer.

Our drive was too limited to produce a definitive verdict, but our brief sample showed the fundamental character and strong attributes of the Tank 500 haven’t been diluted with the addition of a plug-in powertrain and a bigger battery. 

What could cement it as a persuasive proposition will be its real-world fuel consumption, servicing costs (once released), and general on-road manners. 

It drops points for only having five seats – which may not matter to many but could be a missed opportunity – and for having a relatively dull range of just four exterior paint colours to choose from: Silver, Black, White, and Gold.

Yet if you plan on permanently covering it in mud, who cares? The Tank 500 Hi4-T is a trailblazer in the large 4WD segment, beating household names to the PHEV party – and it could stay that way for a while yet.

Stay tuned to CarExpert for our first drive of the new Tank 500 Hi4-T Plug-in Hybrid on public roads, which is hopefully coming very soon.

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MORE: Explore the GWM Tank 500 showroom