The GWM Haval H7 hasn’t exactly been climbing the Australian sales charts, and the slow-selling midsize crossover SUV could be replaced by something that fills a more obvious gap in GWM’s local lineup.
Now the new GWM Haval H7 Plus unveiled at this year’s Beijing Motor Show – or possibly the vehicle it is based on – is shaping up to be a new entrant to our market Daily Sparkz I understand that it will replace the existing Haval H7.
“There are also two more models coming: the H7 and also the Jolion Max, so we have three models this year,” Parker Shi, president of GWM International, told media from Australia and New Zealand at the Beijing Motor Show, which will be preceded by the Ora 5 electric SUV launching Down Under in the coming months.
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“We have options for seven-seaters… We’ve always said there will be more with H7,” said Steve Maciver, GWM’s head of marketing and communications for Australia and New Zealand.
The H7 Plus would finally give the Chinese car brand a seven-seat option, positioned below the Tank 500 hybrid large SUV, which is currently priced from $74,990 auto in the absence of a cheaper entry-level model.
It’s a stretched version of the Menglong/Raptor that launched in China in 2023, and despite styling reminiscent of the Tank 300 (or the unsold Haval H9 here), it’s another crossover SUV with car-like unibody construction.
The regular Menglong/Raptor/H7 is available with just five seats, but the slightly longer H7 Plus, unveiled in Beijing, offers the option of a third row, increasing seating capacity to seven.
Importing it into Australia would be preferable to the Haval H9 as, while this larger SUV has a third row of seats, its body-on-frame construction means it overlaps – at least on paper – with the existing Tank 500.
The Haval H9 is also only available with petrol and diesel and does not have a hybrid or plug-in hybrid drive.
However, it is understood that the H7/Menglong/Raptor standard is also being considered for Australia.
It is 4680 mm long (4800 mm with external spare wheel carrier), 1950 mm wide and 1843 mm high with a wheelbase of 2738 mm.
The H7 Plus has a longer wheelbase of 2850 mm, with the same width and height, but an overall length of 4912 mm.
For comparison: the Kia Sorento is 4815 mm long, 1900 mm wide and 1700 mm high with a wheelbase of 2815 mm.
Currently, the H7 Plus is only available as a Hi4 plug-in hybrid, equipped with a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, front and rear electric motors, and a two-speed hybrid transmission.
The total output of the system is 320 kW/750 Nm or 330 kW/660 Nm and the acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is between 5.8 and 6.1 seconds, depending on the variant.
Although not a member of GWM’s more robust Tank range, the H7 Plus features what GWM calls an electronically locking mechanical rear differential with a dog clutch, as well as an off-road crawl mode and a tank turn function. The ground clearance is 221 mm.
There is a four-wheel independent suspension with MacPherson struts at the front and a multi-link arrangement at the rear. Electronically controlled dampers are available and a choice of 18 or 19 inch alloy wheels.
With a 33.7 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, the all-electric range on the WLTC cycle is 145-147 km. In China, there is a five-seat Ultra Navigator edition with a larger 44.7 kWh ternary lithium battery, increasing the electric range to 191 km.
The Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) function lets you power small devices, while the H7 Plus can be quickly charged using DC power.
The regular Raptor is also available as a plug-in hybrid or with a non-electrified 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine producing 175kW and 385Nm.
Inside the H7 Plus there is a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a head-up display and a 15.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
An opening panoramic sunroof and a power tailgate are standard, as are a refrigerator with heating function, a 50W mobile phone charger and a 12-speaker sound system.
The front seats are heated, ventilated, massage and have a memory system, while the second row seats have heating and ventilation.
There’s the expected suite of active safety and driver assistance technology, but not all variants in China come with what GWM calls Coffee Pilot 3 ADAS, which uses LiDAR and cameras to provide city and highway navigation with Autopilot (NOA). There are also remote parking and reverse tracking features.
GWM treats its individual brands in Australia as sub-brands, all sold under the same GWM banner. The Haval range, which focuses on family-friendly crossover SUVs, currently includes the Jolion, H6 and H7 models.
At the end of this year, the Jolion Max will slot in between the Jolion and the H6.
The current Haval H7, known as the second-generation Big Dog in China, was launched in Australia in 2025 as the second, uniquely styled entry in the mid-size crossover SUV segment. Despite being touted as a slightly more robust vehicle, it has only been offered in Australia as a front-wheel drive hybrid model.
GWM Australia has only delayed 292 examples of the H7 until the end of March this year. Among the models in its segment that were on sale throughout the year, it was beaten by all models except models from Deepal, Leapmotor, Peugeot, Renault and Skoda. It’s also currently GWM’s second slowest seller this year, beating the Tank 500 by 10 units.
MORE: Explore the GWM Haval H7 showroom
