The GWM Tank 500 has only just hit the market in South Africa, but how many units of this R1.2-million hybrid SUV were sold locally in August 2024? We have the figures…
The GWM Tank 500 was officially launched in South Africa on 13 August 2024, arriving as a petrol-hybrid SUV featuring 3 rows of seating and a R1 222 900 price-tag. So, how many examples were registered locally last month?
Well, according to figures reported to Naamsa, GWM South Africa sold 13 units of the Tank 500 in what was a partial month (effectively 2 weeks) for the nameplate. Interestingly, 12 of those units were registered via the dealer channel, with the remaining unit listed as a “single” registration (a vehicle GWM SA kept and licensed for its own use). In addition, 6 units were registered ahead of launch in July, with a single unit in each of April and June as well.
Incidentally, the smaller Tank 300 enjoyed its best month of 2024 thus far, with 62 units sold in August 2024. Of course, the 300-badged model’s starting price is far lower than that of the Tank 500, kicking off at R725 950 (though a new top-spec “Ultra Luxury” hybrid derivative was recently added to the range, albeit quietly). Still, we’ll keep an eye on the sales figures of both models over the next few months and revisit this topic if there’s anything interesting to report.
As we pointed out in our Tank 500 pricing article, just a single derivative of the Chinese 7-seater SUV is currently available in the form of the Tank 500 2.0T Ultra Luxury Hybrid 4×4 9AT. However, our initial information suggested 2 variants would be offered locally, with the 2nd being a “Super Luxury” derivative priced at a slightly lower R1 122 900. Perhaps this is still on the cards…
Either way, the Tank 500 is the 1st GWM model to be priced north of R1-million in Mzansi, which sees it going head to head with several established 7-seater SUVs, including the Ford Everest (229 units sold in August) and the J250-generation Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (248 units sold last month).
As a reminder, the ladder-frame Tank 500’s turbocharged 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder petrol-hybrid powertrain generates total system outputs as lofty as 255 kW and 648 Nm, with a 9-speed automatic transmission and 4×4 (including as many as 11 driving modes) shipping standard. This hulking GWM’s claimed fuel economy comes in at 8.5 L/100 km, while the 0-100 kph time is listed as 8.3 seconds.
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