The last twelve months has seen New Zealand’s automotive market go through one of its busiest times yet! In fact, we’ve had nearly one new brand launch every month over the last calendar year and the fact that they’ve all been Chinese means some have triumphed while others have gotten lost in the noise. Great Wall Motors‘ Haval brand may share its country of origin with these newcomers but that’s about where the similarities end. While some of China’s automotive giants are only just discovering these lands down under, Haval is less than 12 months away from celebrating a decade of local presence!
It was around September/October 2017 when the Haval brand first appeared on our shores, debuting with the H2, a small and very value friendly SUV. Yes, it did have its flaws but the price made that palatable. Fast forward nine years and one of GWM’s hero products, the Haval H6 has been facelifted, making it a far cry from what the brand sold here in its early days. They’ve gone one step further too in their efforts to win over the Kiwi faithful, not only by sponsoring the One NZ (Vodafone) Warriors but also by completing their AT-1 local suspension tuning which has now been fitted to the H6 HEV as part of an update to the facelifted model that debuted last year. In theory, this new AT-1 setup should make the H6 AT-Home on our roads but are the differences really that noticeable?
Let’s start off with the basics first, Haval is a sub-brand of GWM (Great Wall Motors or Go With More) and the H6 is arguably their most popular product locally. Interestingly, we skipped both the first and second generation H6s, starting only with the third generation model which received a mid-cycle facelift in 2024 internationally and 2025 locally. Either way, the H6 is a medium sized SUV available with either HEV (self-charging) or PHEV (plug-in) powertrains.
Dimensionally, it’s certainly on the larger side of its class, measuring in at 4.7m in length, 1.89m wide and 1.73m tall. It’ll still fit into most carparks with ease but the size is starting to get up there, particularly when the H6 will only seat five. The upside though is oodles on space for its occupants and a very accessible backseat, not to mention 560L of boot space which can expand to 1,485L when the seats are dropped, space aplenty indeed!
Choices are aplenty too with both the HEV and PHEV available in Lux, Ultra 2WD or Ultra AWD trim levels. The colour options are a tad disappointing though with only four on offer, ‘Ayers Grey’, ‘Golden Black’, ‘Hamilton White’ or this ‘Astral Pearl’ shade which was applied to our review model. The pre-facelift H6 models came with a light blue shade that offered some variety to the lineup but was dropped during the move to this facelifted model.
The other key exterior change between pre/post-facelift has been the removal of the rear light bar and Haval badging which has now been replaced with ‘GWM’ lettering and sharper looking taillights. 19 inch wheels are standard across the range and ours came painted in gloss black which is also standard across the H6 lineup. Regardless of trim or powertrain, all H6s will tow 1500kgs (1.5t) braked or 750kgs unbraked, not bad considering all variants have some form of electrification involved!
Although this facelifted H6 has been around for about a year now, it’s undeniable that the transition represented a considerable step-up in both the cabin’s feel and quality. Bar an occasionally rattling rear window, I found the general fit and finish to be quite good. Two ‘Comfort-Tek’ interior colour options exist, those are either ‘Black’ or ‘Cream’ (pictured above), the latter of which can only be had in the Ultra trims but not on a vehicle painted in the ‘Hamilton White’ colour. Fair enough, there is such a thing as too much white I suppose! If you do end up choosing the ‘Cream’ interior, keep an eye out for dyed denim and dirty fingers, both of which will stain the upholstery over time.
However, the words too much clearly didn’t exist when GWM were specifying the interior of the H6 Ultra because it comes loaded with just about everything really. There’s a dual panoramic sunroof overhead, both front seats are electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated. On this note though, only about 1/3 of the backrest is actually heated which makes for an awkward feeling on cold mornings as your lower back/hindquarters are roasting while your cold upper back/shoulders rest against the icy leather appointed seats. The steering wheel is also heated and wrapped in microfibre leather. Charging options are plentiful with USB-C, USB-A, 12V and wireless all available. As you can see from the above photos, the storage spaces are also handy for a family’s needs with a generous under-armrest cubby as well as a floating central tunnel with nooks galore.
The H6 also suffers from the side effects of having a minimalist interior which means everything needs to be buried somewhere in the 14.6 inch infotainment screen which can seem complex at first but gets more natural over time. All things considered, graphics and response times are not bad. There’s Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on offer with your respective choice of music being played through an 8-speaker audio system which isn’t remarkable but once again, not bad.
Whether you’re trying to fire up the audio system, heater or even adjust your seats, you need to first start the car or at least put it into accessory mode. A tricky endeavour because the start/stop button is hidden out of sight, obscured by my left knee in this case. Once I found it, all was smooth sailing but yes, its positioning had me scratching my head for a bit! Worth pointing out that the gear stick is also steering column mounted.
As mentioned previously, this car was the ‘HEV’ or ‘Hybrid’ rather than the PHEV model which sees it couple a 1.5L turbocharged four cylinder engine with electric power, together these will deliver a combined power figure of 179kW and a whopping 530Nm of torque! The combination of powertrains means the H6 will leap off the line with relative gusto and generally return an efficient fuel consumption figure, claiming 5.2L/100km but my time with the car saw me record 5.9L/100km over 334 kilometres of mixed driving conditions, I wasn’t far off though! While the switch over from electric to petrol/hybrid can be noisy and jarring at times, it still manages to keep things under control as reflected by the consumption figure.
Thus far I’ve arguably been dilly-dallying because I have yet to touch on the improvements that come as part of the AT-1 locally tuned suspension package. Now, the backstory here is that GWM took up residency at the Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria which used to be Holden’s old facility. They then recruited ex-Holden engineer Rob Trubiani to oversee development of the AT-1 project, the goal of which was to deliver “confidence, control and capability” via both steering and suspension tunes for local drivers.
In fact, GWM’s claim was that the vehicles fitted with the AT-1 tuned dampers were quieter on the road, handled better and then some. After carrying out a series of tests between this vehicle and an H6 without the local suspension tuning, I would tend to agree. Many journalists have written about the H6’s previously harsh ride, this has certainly been addressed with the AT-1 tune. Issues with the safety suite still persist though because I found the H6 a little too eager to beep if I was even remotely close to an object while parking, then there was the forward collision warning which sounded an alert almost every time that I pulled up behind another car! The reversing/360 degree camera is quite good too but it does this annoying thing where it goes to an overhead view just as you’re approaching said wall or barrier, not ideal!
The Verdict
First, the downsides. The H6 felt a little cheap in places, there was a rattling window (sub 2k kms covered), its seat heaters only cover a small portion of the backrest, there’s an over reliance on the infotainment screen and the safety suite was a little too eager to beep in certain scenarios. And the upsides? Well, for $45k, you get a spacious five-seater SUV that will return sub-6L/100km consumption figures. Did I mention it has heated/ventilated seats, a panoramic sunroof, 8-speaker audio, extensive safety suite and now, locally tuned suspension. If you are looking to buy an H6 then make sure to double check that it has the AT-1 suspension upgrade but even if it didn’t, $45k is still astonishing value for what this offers!
2026 GWM Haval H6 Ultra Hybrid 2WD AT-1: 4/5
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Car courtesy of GWM New Zealand. Pictures and words by Matthew D’Souza.
