Holden to reshape Chinese SUVs, utes

Australian engineering is set to shape the next-generation of GWM vehicles from the planning stage, in an effort to make them more suitable to roads outside of China.

Starting from this year with steering and suspension inputs as part of the company’s Australian Tune One (AT-1) program, the next step is to get on the ground floor when future models are still in their development phase, to have them ready for more-demanding environments than the home-market Chinese tune from day one of launch.

Speaking to CarsGuide GWM Australia Vehicle Engineering Specialist Rob Trubiani believes the progress made with the model-year 2026 versions of the Tank 500 SUV, Cannon Alpha ute and Haval H6 arriving from China will be expanded upon and implemented into their successors, as well as every other model headed here, before release.

“(I want to get to) the point at which we are no longer chasing the bus, (but) we're in front of it, so we catch up,” he revealed, illustrating how the vehicles will arrive with modifications to better-cope with Australian roads designed-in, rather than added-on later.

“We're working to that now, and we're working on that with head office, on timelines around when will actually get to a point where we are you're not having a car released, and then you do an upfit.

“Our tunes (will be) in the car from day one. And beyond that, essentially you can have more engineering input into the architectures and that kind of thing. That’s all stuff we’re looking into the future.”

While this reveals an open-ended approach to improving GWM vehicles for Australian roads, the initial AT-1 modifications still need to be embraced by local consumers first as the brand strives to grow its market share.

“But for now, it’s just about getting a few cars out there, where we’ve made these optimisations, and hopefully customers enjoy it,” Trubiani said.

“But, in the background, we'll be working towards getting in front of the bus.”

2026 GWM Tank 300

2026 GWM Cannon Alpha

2026 GWM Haval H6

2026 GWM Tank 500

2026 GWM Tank 700