GWM’s Wey luxury brand set for Australia to fight Zeekr, Denza, IM and more

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GWM has confirmed that it will bring Wey, its luxury sub-brand, to Australia with a range of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models.

The decision of whether to bring Wey to Australia has been a story of ‘off again, on again’ for Chinese conglomerate GWM, but local executives say they are ready to bet their chips on rising future demand for PHEVs under Australia’s new vehicle emissions laws.

Australian media, including Chasing Cars, has been invited to drive the GWM Gaoshan luxury minivan at a private facility in Victoria this week, with test vehicles rebadged ‘GWM Wey G9’ – the expected Australian name for the MPV.

G9 van, Blue Mountain SUV the first two Wey models for Australia

But the G9 van would be supplemented in GWM’s Australian dealerships by the Wey Blue Mountain large luxury SUV, Chasing Cars understands, while at least one other Wey SUV model is also under examination. 

Pronounced like “way”, the premium GWM marque is named for the current chairman of Great Wall Motors, Chinese billionaire Jack Wey.

“We are still working through final scenarios, but there is a good chance you are going to see [Wey in Australia] next year,” GWM Australia head of marketing and communications Steve Maciver told Chasing Cars.

An earlier proposal to bring Wey’s SUV models to Australia under GWM’s more affordable Haval sub-brand has been abandoned.

Maciver confirmed that — at least at first — Wey would not offer pure combustion or pure electric vehicles locally, but that PHEVs would be the focus.

“[Wey] will be plug-in. We are pretty confident, with the NVES scenario we are facing, that we are going to see an increased [market] share of PHEVs. It is going to have to happen, and we are betting pretty big on it,” he said.

The most likely Wey models for the brand’s mooted 2026 Australian release both offer PHEV powertrains.

Plug-in hybrids with big power and 100km+ electric range

The G9 (or Gaoshan) minivan is produced only with a 1.5-litre turbo petrol PHEV powertrain producing 358kW/762Nm combined, with approximately 140km electric range.

Meanwhile, the Blue Mountain (Lanshan) large SUV uses a similar 1.5T PHEV system, though it is uprated to 380kW/933Nm combined. Electric range is similar to the G9 at about 140km with GWM claiming combined driving range is over 1000km.

Both the Blue Mountain SUV and the G9 van use an existing GWM hybrid all-wheel drive system, but Maciver hinted that Australia could receive Wey models with GWM’s newer-generation, high-performance Hi4-Z PHEV/AWD combination.

“If you think about perhaps a Wey Blue Mountain that might [be used for] occasional soft-roading, Hi4-Z will be pretty capable of that. It will also give you increased performance and increased (electric) range on-road, so it could be a good option for us,” he said.

Equipped with Hi4-Z instead of their existing PHEV systems, the G9 and Blue Mountain could produce up to 635kW/1195Nm combined with up to 200km electric-only range from a 59kWh battery.

Wey to avoid sky-high pricing of some luxury rival brands

GWM Australia is adamant that pricing for Wey models will remain in reasonable territory despite their luxury status.

It was made especially clear that the G9 luxury van will not be priced in the same territory as the Zeekr 009 (from $135,900 plus on-road costs) or Lexus LM (from $163,520 + ORCs).

“I would be confident in saying that if we were to bring [the G9 van] in, we would not be close to six figures,” Maciver told Chasing Cars.

“Comparing what other brands may be doing in the [minivan] space at six figures, we don’t believe that is where the vehicle should be priced for us. We don’t know exactly what that [price] looks like, but we are pretty confident we are not going to be at six figures.”