How A Top Chinese Automaker Made Fools Out Of The Entire Automotive Industry

The Shangai Motor Show is currently underway, and there’s more than enough reason to pay attention. China is the world’s biggest car market, followed by the USA in second place. And it’s not even close. Last year, 31.46 million cars were sold in China, while only 15.97 million cars found new homes in the USA. Third is Japan, with 4.42 million. The new car market in China is so big that you’d need to combine all the sales of the rest of the top ten countries to achieve a similar figure.

What’s interesting is the EV adoption rate on that side of the world. In the USA, EVs make up roughly 8% of sales, but in China, EVs accounted for nearly 30% of sales. BYD is the leader in the market, and sold 1,764,992 EVs last year. To put that in perspective, Ford sold 732,100 F-Series units over the same timeframe, with the F-150 being America’s top-selling vehicle.

Not that it matters, because Americans have made it clear that they’re not interested in electric vehicles. Automakers drastically overestimated where EV sales would be by now, which kicked off a process of backpedaling in a big way. There are even rumors of Stellantis restarting Hemi V8 production, even though the Hurricane inline-six is better suited to whatever task the conglomerate has given it.

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The World’s Newest Twin-Turbo V8 Comes From The Last Place You’d Expect

A twin-turbo V8 from a very unlikely source.

Internal combustion engine development has all but stopped. There are still a few automakers working on combustion engines, but most aren’t working on anything bigger than a six-pot. That’s why we were so surprised when China pulled a weirdly American move and introduced an all-new twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine with a plug-in hybrid component for future products. That’s something we would have expected from Cadillac, but no. In the same week, Caddy announced the first electric V-Series, the folks in the east (where EVs are still the must-have automotive accessory) launched a V8 engine developed from scratch.

Why Does China Need A V8?

Honestly, we don’t know. Chinese automakers aren’t really known for producing sports cars. The most high-profile examples so far are the MG Cyberster, which we’ve driven, and the BYD Yangwang U9, which is best known for jumping over potholes. These are interesting cars, but they don’t really pose a threat to American favorites like the Corvette and Toyota GR86.

That most likely means it will go into SUVs, but as far as we can tell, every Chinese SUV is either electric, or powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder. GWM and its premium subsidiary, Haval, mostly produce a series of small crossovers, SUVs, and pickup trucks that all look the same and aren’t particularly interesting.

There are two special models that stand out, however. They are known as the Tank Series, and you can currently buy a 300 or a 500. Both models are fairly controversial because they are, shall we say, heavily inspired by existing models. You can just look at them above, and you’ll know exactly which SUVs GWM was aiming to mimic.

While these cars do a semi-good job of impersonating famous SUVs, the same can’t be said of their engines. The GWM Wrangler (sorry, Tank 300) is available with a paltry 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, also used by the Tank 500. These engines are perfectly acceptable in China, but the countries it exports to are known for being a bit power-hungry. Australians are known for loving a good V8, and the same goes for the Middle East and South Africa. At one point, the latter was the third-largest market for AMG Mercs, before it became obsessed with four- and six-cylinders.

That’s the only reason we can think of why GWM has pulled this extremely odd move.

What Can We Expect From China’s V8?

It’s worth mentioning that this is not the first time China has dabbled in big engines. The Hongqi HQE is one of the most prestigious cars on sale in China, and it’s powered by a 6.0-liter V12. It’s not the most impressive power plant, if we’re being honest. Hongqi only managed to get 400 hp and 405 lb-ft of torque from the engine, which is easily matched by the LS6 V8 Chevrolet put into the C5 Z06 way back in 2001. But it’s not so much the power, but the badge that matters. You can keep your Bentley, sir. A Hongqi is the ultimate symbol of wealth in China, and its SUV costs more than a Bentley Bentayga.

There is something we can compare the V8 to, however. GWM has already made a bigger engine for the markets mentioned above, but apparently it’s not big enough. It’s a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6, with or without hybrid assistance. With hybrid assistance, it produces 509 hp and 590 lb-ft. The plug-in V8 will certainly hit higher figures than that. GWM’s global brand manager for the Tank series didn’t want to divulge too many details, but according to Car Sales Australia, he took a shot across the bow of non-Chinese automakers. “We solved problems that many overseas car-makers have not,” said Gu Yukun. GWM’s people also stated that all Tank models are being considered for this engine, but we can also see it working in its American-sized trucks, like the P500.

Most tellingly, Yukun told Drive Australia that GWM still believes that new energy cars like hybrids and electric vehicles can’t replace the V8 engine. Somehow, a bunch of American automakers, apart from Ford missed that memo.

Should America Care?

Nope. This new V8 will have no impact on the American market, but it could hurt exports. America exports cars like the Dodge Durango and Cadillac Escalade. As these models will eventually downgrade to turbocharged inline-six engines or electricity, GWM will still be right there offering a twin-turbocharged V8 designed and developed in 2025. But that’s an admittedly small market, and will have no real impact on American manufacturing.

To me, it’s more emotional damage. America is the home of the V8. The most produced engine of all time is the Chevy Small Block V8, and there are more iconic V8 that come from America than any other place in the world.

V8s are our thing. How dare a Chinese automaker do this? Then again, most of our automakers gave up on this magnificent engine, so somebody had to step in and take over…

Sources: Car Sales Australia, Drive