GAC M8/E9 seen in Malaysia – hybrid MPV coming soon to compete with Toyota Alphard/Vellfire?
The luxury MPV segment is gaining competition from Chinese manufacturers in particular, with Zeekr having opened the order books for the 009 today and BYD having confirmed the Malaysian arrival of the Denza D9 for the first quarter of next year. Now, it appears GAC could be next to join the pool, with this sighting of the M8 MPV courtesy of paultan.org reader Owen Tan.
Sold in China as the Trumpchi M8, the second-generation three-row luxury MPV from GAC was unveiled in September 2022 and is offered with petrol, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. The latter is known as the E9, which has its own front-end styling featuring horizontal slats instead of the M8’s vertical grille elements.
The three-row MPV from GAC measures 5,212 mm long, 1,893 mm wide, 1,823 mm tall with a wheelbase of 3,070 mm, and is therefore mostly larger than the Japanese establishment that is the Toyota Alphard/Vellfire duo save for being lower in overall height.
In petrol-only guise, the M8 in the Chinese market features a 2.0 litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 255 PS and 400 Nm of torque, driving the front wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. As for the hybrid, the ICE is a Atkinson-cycle version of the same engine that makes 190 PS and 320 Nm, paired to a Toyota-sourced system including an e-CVT, with a 184 PS/270 Nm electric motor.
The PHEV version that is the E9 gets a 190PS/330 Nm version of the turbo petrol engine, mated to a 182 PS/300 Nm electric motor with a two-speed Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT). Combined outputs are 373 PS and 630 Nm, good for a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 8.8 seconds.
Energy stores for its electric drive are by a ternary lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 25.57 kWh, enabling 106 km of purely electric running on the WLTC cycle. For the PHEV E9. GAC quotes a combined range of 1,032 km with all aspects of the PHEV system utilised, and a fuel consumption rating of 6.05 l/100 km. An AC input takes 3.5 hours to charge its battery, while DC fast charging takes 30 minutes.
Inside, the M8 and E9 are aiming for the luxury MPV clientele with captain chairs in the second row, ahead of a three-seat bench for a 2-2-3 seating layout. The E9 offers a five-inch touchscreen for each of the second-row chairs, as well as packing a 16-speaker Yamaha sound system.
Up front, the driver gets a 12.3-inch instrument display and the front passenger gets an infotainment unit of the same size, while the central touchscreen infotainment unit measures 14.6 inches across. For the passengers in the E9, there is an additional 15.6-inch display mounted to the ceiling.
Further equipment on the E9 in China includes 18-inch wheels, privacy glass, a panoramic sunroof, ambient lighting, powered first- and second-row seats, a manually-operated third-row bench, a powered tailgate, keyless entry and start, three-zone climate control with a PM2.5 sensor, PM1 (CN95) cabin filter, air quality sensor and plasma air purifier), leather upholstery and a wireless charger.
Facilitating its Adigo Pilot assisted driving functions is a suite of sensors up to 10 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars and four millimetre wave radars, enabling functions including front and rear autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, park assist, and a surround view monitor.
GALLERY: GAC Trumpchi E9 PHEV
GALLERY: GAC Trumpchi M8
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