Over the weekend, GWM Malaysia made an interesting post on its Instagram account. To commemorate the company’s 35th anniversary, it shared a photo of the GWM leadership surrounding a mysterious, low-slung covered car. The accompanying caption, which read, “GWM is shifting gears into the Supercar World!”, confirms that the covered car is indeed GWM’s first supercar, which will serve as a “halo car” for the Chinese marque.
While the cloth draped over the entire car has obscured most of its design, we can still gleam some interesting details about the GWM supercar, including what appears to be circular headlights, almost reminiscent of the GWM Ora models.
The large protrusion along the side also suggests the presence of a large intake vent, perhaps similar to the iconic side blades on an Audi R8. This detail, combined with the car’s low slung bonnet, strongly suggests a rear mid-engined layout – a classic supercar recipe. The immediate question, of course, is what kind of powertrain will be propelling it?
If you recall, GWM actually has a fitting powertrain for its first-ever supercar: the company’s new twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine, which made its debut at the Shanghai Auto Show 2025.
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While the company is still keeping mum on the V8’s official specifications, a report by WhichCar suggests that the new engine will be paired with a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) system to boost performance, while complying with emissions regulations.
This PHEV system could be similar to the Hi4 (Hybrid Intelligent 4WD) powertrain in the upcoming GWM Wey 80, which features a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine and two electric motors for a total output of 458 hp and 644 Nm.
However, that same report indicates the V8 powertrain will likely make its debut first in a special edition of the GWM Tank 300, before potentially being used in the new supercar.
There’s, of course, also a possibility of it being a fully electric (EV) supercar. Currently, the most powerful EV powertrain in their lineup is in the Performance variant of the GWM Ora 07, which uses a dual-motor powertrain to produce 408 hp (300 kW) and 680 Nm, enabling a 0-100 km/h sprint in 4.3 seconds.
No matter which direction GWM goes with, we’re expecting to see a lot more performance than that. We won’t be surprised to see a four-figure output, too, given the trend of current halo cars with their headline-grabbing horsepower numbers – but we’ll have to wait a while longer until we find out.
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