GWM (Great Wall Motors) is counting on a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) version of its top selling Tank 300 AWD to provide the impetus to rumble it even further up the  new vehicle sales charts.

Two plug-in models are offered. 

The $63,990 Lux sounds like a vacuum cleaner but it leaves most of its rivals in the  dust with its epic power and acceleration.

I got to test drive the range topping Ultra priced at $68,990.

For that you get worry free motoring in the form of a seven-year unlimited km warranty — not the best in the market these days, but still very good, and only edged by Nissan’s recently introduced market-leading 10-year 300,000km warranty.

The plug-in hybrid is and by a long way, the powerhouse performer in the Tank 300 family with 300kw of power, and great low-speed heft with a bicep-bending 750Nm of torque, to blast almost anywhere on and off road.

The engine is shared with its sibling the Cannon Alfa double cab AWD ute.

The Tank doesn’t look, with its boxy upright appearance and less than aerodynamic lines, like a vehicle capable of storming through the 0 to 100km dash in just 5.7 seconds. The seamless and smooth power delivery impresses along with the almost instantaneous throttle response that pins you back in the driver’s seat as it hares off from standing starts.

The nine-speed automatic, grabbed from the Cannon Alpha PHEV ute parts bin, is efficient. It has a few flaws,  not fatal ones but flaws none the less — the most irritating being sometimes clunky gear changes.

This is a reasonable-size SUV at 460mm long, 1930mm wide, 1903mm tall, and sits on a generous 2750mm wheelbase. The only let-down is a measly 400-litre rear cargo compartment, not a lot to carry all the gear you need for a weekend or longer off-road adventure.

An overzealous and verbose driver monitoring system copped plenty of flak when this model was launched here. It jangled peoples’ nerves with its incessant chatter chastising you for almost every driving indiscretion — but it has been largely silenced. While the grating voice is gone, it’s replaced by almost equally annoying chimes. There’s good and bad news here. The good news is the chimes can be hushed via a settings function on the touchscreen. However, the bad news is you have to do this every time you return to the vehicle, otherwise the chime torment returns.

The Ultra lives up to its premium billing, riding on 18-inch alloy wheels — not huge for a vehicle in this price bracket and a touch undersized. A sidestep, not the rugby variety, allows you to easily slip  your way into the cabin with its imitation Nappa leather accented seats, complete with an eight-way power adjustment, plus memory and massage function for the front seats.

Nothing too fancy with the tried and true suspension underpinnings: double wishbones up front, while at the other end of the vehicle a multi-link non-independent suspension puts in a solid shift. This robust suspension arrangement is precisely what you need in a rugged SUV that’s up for tackling some  tough terrain. None of my off-road excursions asked super-serious questions of the suspension, but the test vehicle did enough to show it had the answers.

Under friendly fire on roads in urban areas and out on the highway, the suspension is competent. However, it is less adept at isolating suspension noise over more hostile road surfaces, with  a bouncy ride thrown into the mix if the vehicle isn’t  under load.

GWM Tank 300 AWD Ultra PHEV

Rating out of 10:

Performance 8

Handling and ride comfort 6

Build Quality 7

Space 7

Styling 7

Value for money 7

Overall points out of 10: 7

Fuel economy: on road test average consumption 6.5L/100km

Safety: five star 2022 Ancap crash rating

Warranty: 7 year unlimited km

Price: $68,990