By Otsile Kadiege

A few months ago, Great Wall Motors South Africa announced that they’ll be launching a large, premium SUV with bold yet stately looks and an interior that can rival some high-end luxury SUVs as well as off-roading capabilities to take on the likes of the Everest and Land Cruiser Prado.

Exterior design and styling

Outside, the new Tank 500 has a bold design with eye-catching ‘blingy’ trims all-round. Highlights include a dominant chrome finished hexagonal grille with horizontal slats and a large Tank badge on the centre. It’s flanked by odd-looking LED headlights and LED fog lights on the lower front bumper.

In profile, the Tank 500 is shod with 19- or 20-inch alloy wheels, retractable side steps and functional roof rails. The rear is dominated by a full-size spare wheel which has been integrated into the swinging tailgate. It measures 5 078 mm long, 1 934 mm wide, a height of 1 905 mm and has a wheelbase of 2 850 mm.

Interior design and technology

Stepping inside, the five-seater SUV oozes luxury and spaciousness. Cockpit highlights include a three-spoke multifunctional steering wheel, head-up display, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a massive 14.6-inch floating touchscreen, a centre console with numerous shortcut buttons, an Infinity sound system and a panoramic sunroof. Moving to the rear seats there’s plenty of leg, knee and headroom. Folding down the centre armrest unveils yet another 7-inch touchscreen for media and climate control.

On the materials and styling side of things, the Tank 500 has toffee brown quilted leather seats with perforations for seat cooling and heating on both first and second row seats. Other highlights include  knurled effects on the dashboard, wood trimmings all-round and a time peace on the centre of the dashboard.

Advanced driver assistance systems

The Tank 500 has level 2 intelligent driving assistance system, equipped with intelligent cruise control, lane assistance, intelligent parking, automatic emergency braking, and other driving assistance functions and active safety technologies.

Performance

The Tank 500 is available with two powertrains, namely a 189kW/380Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and a more powerful 265kW/500Nm 3.0-litre twin turbocharged V6 engine. There will also be an HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) and a PHEV(plug-in electric vehicle) options adding more power and torque while sipping less fuel. According to GWM SA COO, South Africa will initially receive the 2.0T Miller Cycle engine, most likely with HEV technology.

The powerplant is paired with a 9-speed automatic transmission and has 9 drive modes as well as a smart part-time 4-wheel-drive (4WD) system for urban driving and when tackling roads less travelled.

Local availability

The Tank 500 will be launched locally in July. Pricing will be announced closer to local launch date but we think it will definitely be priced just above a million rands.