A plush Kia Carnival-sized people mover is poised to lead a rollout of prestige models from GWM's Wey brand locally next year.
Family Cars
More luxurious – and more expensive – cars from Chinese auto giant GWM are confirmed for Australia under a new Wey sub-brand due in showrooms in 2026.
Luxury cars from Chinese auto giant GWM's Wey brand have been locked in for Australia next year to join the Haval, Tank, Ora and Cannon names in its showrooms.
Among the Wey models slated for Australian showrooms is a large Kia Carnival-sized, plug-in hybrid people mover known as the G9, which would undercut Lexus and Zeekr rivals with a price that "would not be close to six figures".
Long considered off the table, Wey – a 'premium' brand marketed by GWM in China and the Middle East – has returned to the discussion for local showrooms in recent months.
"We're going to launch the Wey brand [in 2026]," GWM Australia chief operating officer John Kett told local media.
Not all GWM dealers will sell Wey vehicles, only those that have completed a necessary upgrade to their showrooms to better accommodate all of the Chinese giant's sub-brands.
"It's very much tied into what we need to do with our brand, certainly around upgrading our network. There'll be certain conditions under which dealers will get access to the Wey brand," said Kett.
"That will be tied to a project that we've called Rise … where the dealers need to invest in larger stores so that we can really showcase all of our brands and our portfolio within our stores."
An example of the Wey G9 (or Wey 80) people mover was on display at a GWM showcase in Melbourne this week, and Australian and New Zealand reporters were encouraged to sample the vehicle on a media preview drive in China earlier this year.
"The fact that you're getting the chance to drive it [the G9] means it's a good chance to come here," GWM Australia head of marketing and communications Steve Maciver told Drive.
Drive understands Wey would likely launch with multiple models, opening the door to the Blue Mountain (or Lanshan), a large six-seat, plug-in hybrid SUV.
It would give GWM its first seven-seater in Australia that isn't based on heavy-duty ladder-frame underpinnings, as with the Tank 500 and earlier Haval-badged models.
Maciver confirmed "the Blue Mountain, if we were to bring it in, would be a Wey," rather than rebadged as a Haval.
Kett told Drive earlier this year: "If we brought it [Blue Mountain] in, we are still toying with where that price would be.
"When you start adding the concept of Wey to the conversation we just had on Haval, and how the crossover in the large SUV segment should play between mainstream and premium, you've uncovered the dilemma that we're dealing with at this point in time.
"So we're still working through those trade-offs, but we think as a vehicle, the team really likes it."
Also included in the Chinese Wey line-up is the Mocha, a large electric SUV sized to compete with the Zeekr 7X and MG IM6.
If the G9 people mover is green-lit, Australia would likely receive the latest right-hand-drive interior recently shown in Malaysia, which deletes the second 15.6-inch touchscreen fitted to the dashboard of Chinese versions.
It is powered by a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine mated with front and rear electric motors for combined outputs of 337kW and 644Nm, more than any other GWM currently sold in Australia.
A 44.3kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery pack is fitted for a rating of 172km of electric-only driving range, or 945km in hybrid mode, both based on WLTC lab testing.
Family Cars Guide
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
