Great Wall Motor’s (GWM) continued assault on the Thai market continues with the world premiere of the Haval H6 Plug-in Hybrid. A development of the H6 Hybrid launched earlier this year, it boasts some eyebrow-raising performance and electric range figures.
The Chinese carmaker hasn’t revealed much in the way of details but has confirmed that the car will continue to be powered by the Hybrid’s 1.5 litre turbocharged engine, which produces 167 hp and 285 Nm of torque. The electric motor, however, is more powerful (power and torque figures still unknown) and helps to deliver an impressive total system output of 326 hp and 530 Nm – 86 hp more than the Hybrid.
Drive is still sent to the front wheels via a dedicated hybrid transmission (DHT), which uses twin planetary gearsets to balance the operation of the engine and electric motor. Even more impressive is the SUV’s pure electric range, which is a scarcely believable 201 km (!) on the NEDC cycle. No, that’s not a typo.
The size of the lithium-ion battery is still unknown, but the H6 likely uses the ginormous 41.8 kWh unit – much larger than most plug-in hybrids – from the European-market Wey Coffee 01. The latter is a premium SUV also based on the GWM’s Lemon architecture and is capable of an electric range of 150 km on the WLTP cycle using an even more powerful dual-motor all-wheel-drive system.
As you can see, the PHEV’s front end is rather different from the standard H6’s, with a broad new grille that reaches outwards almost to the corners, in a similar fashion to the facelifted Peugeot 3008. The triple air intakes have also been reprofiled slightly to suit. The rest of the SUV looks to be identical to the Hybrid, including the sleek body, 19-inch alloy wheels and minimalist interior with freestanding displays.
