By Otsile Kadiege

GWM South recently debuted the much-anticipated Tank 300 at this years Festival of Motoring. The Tank 300 is a box-shaped SUV that’s off-road ready and boasts premium interior appointments, new technologies and two powertrain options – one of them being hybridised.

Exterior design

On the outside, the eye-catching new Tank 300 has a box-shaped body with some modish design and styling cues. Highlights include a front-end with a large gloss black grille that has three horizontal slats, a Tank badge and round LED headlights with integrated bulb turn signals.

In profile, the Tank 300’s off-road readiness is bolstered by prominent contrasting wheel arches and chunky off-road 18-inch wheels while the rear sports vertical LED taillights and a covered full size spare wheel bolted onto the tailgate which swings to the right hand side when open. Customers will have a choice of five colours, namely White, Black, Mars Red, Orange and Grey.

The Tank 300’s exterior dimensions are as follows: 4 760mm long, 1 930mm wide, 1 903mm tall and has a wheelbase of 2 750mm. It has a ground clearance of 224mm.

Interior design and tech

Inside, the Tank 300 has a premium design and modern tech thanks to posh leather seats with quilted patterns and contrast stitching, rugged grab handles on the dashboard and door panels, turbine air vents and a three-spoke multifunctional steering wheel. On the tech and convenience side of things, the Tank 300 gets integrated 12.3-inch screens for the instrument cluster and infotainment display. It comes with 6 way electronically adjustable driver’s seat while the front passenger only gets four. It’s also equipped with 12V sockets a 220V power supply in the cargo area as well as USB-A and USB-C slots.

Safety

On the safety side of things, the Tank 300 gets a plethora of active and passive safety systems like autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, traffic sign recognition, rear cross-traffic alert with brake, adaptive cruise control, seven airbags (front, side, curtain and centre), 360-degree panoramic camera, hill assist and descent control, Crawl Control and Tank Turn to name a few.

Performance

Powering the Tank 300 is a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine developing 180kW and 380Nm. Customers will have the HEV (hybrid) option which makes as much as 258kW and 615Nm. Both engines are paired to 9-speed auto transmission while power is fed to all four wheels.

Availability

GWM SA hasn’t announced the pricing, model range and availability of the Tank 300, however we are confident the automaker will launch it before the end of 2023.