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Despite forecasts of a shrinking market in 2025, GWM is looking to go from strength to strength in Australia.
GWM is targeting expanded sales and increased market share in Australia, setting its sights on more than 50,000 sales in 2025.
It would represent a 16.8 per cent increase compared to GWM's 2024 sales of 42,782 vehicles, according to VFACTS data.
“We’re happy to be on the record to say that’s what we are aiming for,” said Steve Maciver, marketing and communications boss for GWM in Australia and New Zealand, who pointed to a pipeline of new and updated models as a source of growth.
“At least seven new or significantly updated models are arriving in 2025.
“That’s the stuff that we know about, at this stage. I’ve never seen a car company move at the rate of speed that GWM does – [and] that doesn’t mean to say other things might not come in.
“We are going to have a similar number in 2026, so that’s at least fourteen new models between now and the end of 2026.”
GWM has recorded a strong start in 2025, lodging 3433 sales in January – representing a 9.9 per cent increase compared to the same month last year.
It made GWM the eighth best-selling brand in January, in a market that shrunk 2.4 per cent overall.
Assuming it can remain ahead of Subaru and Volkswagen for the rest of 2025, GWM will set its sights on leapfrogging Nissan and Isuzu in its quest for increased market share.
The challenge of this target isn’t lost on GWM's new chief operating officer John Kett, who joined the Chinese car brand in recent months after holding the same role at Hyundai Australia for more than five years.
“We have to earn it. Simply saying something and earning it are two different things,” he said.
“Developing those little things that will make us different. When we talk about ride, and drive and handling, things that accelerated the Korean brands, we want to replicate that.”
However, a key part of growth for the brand will also come from expanding GWM’s model range into more high-volume segments in Australia.
“You just look at VFACTS, and know what it takes to be in the top one, two or three: small SUV, mid-sized SUV, large SUV.” Kett explained.
“Between body-on-frame and monocoque, and the utes that we’re in – that will give you a sense of the things we have to do, across various powertrains.”
“To get that job done, it’s not lost on the team.”
GWM does not currently offer a car-based seven-seat large SUV to compete with the Toyota Kluger or Hyundai Santa Fe – instead it only fields heavy-duty, off-road 4WDs – nor does it have a city-sized SUV to compete with the likes of the Mazda CX-3 or Suzuki Jimny.
According to Kett, GWM will maintain a focus on a mix of petrol, diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains, with an expansion of its electric range initially on the back burner.
"We’re not speaking about halos and technology that’s really nice to talk about but you can’t actually use, and it doesn’t impact our day-to-day business," he said.
"We have an incredible EV portfolio that we can lean into, but what’s going to give us the greatest impact in terms of consumer adoption rates, and still meet NVES, and keep our internal combustion engine (ICE) business going."
GWM has indicated that the brand’s range of Ora electric vehicles will expand in 2026.
Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell
