GWM Tank 300 Diesel sales blow past petrol, hybrid despite new emissions regulations

GWM has only just introduced a turbo-diesel engine to its Tank 300 body-on-frame SUV, and the company claims it’s already outselling the existing variants.

Speaking with CarExpert, GWM Australia and New Zealand (GWM ANZ) head of marketing and communications Steve Maciver said sales volume of the turbo-petrol Tank 300 has tapered off as turbo-diesel sales rise.

“We’ve only really had supply [of the Tank 300 Diesel] on the ground for the last couple of weeks,” said Mr Maciver.

“With the ordering, [the diesel] is already outstripping quite considerably what we’re doing in petrol and what we’re doing in hybrid.

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“It’s almost double the volume of each of those two powertrain combinations.

“We’re seeing the petrol volume come off a little, since [the diesel] has gone in. So what we had in petrol has come off, but [the diesel] has added more incremental volume as well.”

Mr Maciver claims the Tank 300 Diesel is expected to make up 60 per cent of total sales for the model, with the other 40 per cent evenly split between the turbo-petrol and hybrid variants.

Last year GWM sold a total of 3968 examples of the Tank 300. 26.1 per cent of sales were of the hybrid variants, whereas the remaining 73.9 per cent were of the petrol variants.

According to GWM ANZ product specialist Tim Leong, the Tank 300 Diesel has been priced so it can be the “new main seller of the whole Tank 300 range”.

There are two different Tank 300 variants, the Lux and Ultra, which are priced at $47,990 drive-away and $51,990 drive-away, respectively. This pricing puts it between the corresponding turbo-petrol and hybrid variants.

The 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that’s now available in the Tank 300 isn’t new to GWM. It’s already offered in the Cannon Alpha, as well as the updated Cannon dual-cab utes.

While the turbo-diesel engine is the main difference to the rest of the existing Tank 300 range, GWM claims to have made more than 20 component modifications and upgrades to it.

As a result, the Tank 300 Diesel can tow 500kg more than the petrol and hybrid vehicles. With a 3000kg braked towing capacity, however, it still falls short of the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuner’s 3100kg figures, as well as the class-leading 3500kg offered by the Toyota Prado and Ford Everest.

The Tank 300 Diesel’s higher towing capacity pushes it into the “heavy off-road passenger vehicles” category under the Australian Government’s incoming New Vehicle Efficiency Standard emissions regulation, giving it a higher CO2 emissions target than its petrol and hybrid siblings.

MORE: Everything GWM Tank 300