The GWM Haval H6 HEV is a hybrid SUV that does the daily driving thing rather well.
There’s no shortage of medium sized, budget-friendly Chinese SUVs on the market in Malaysia today. In fact, in 2025 there are actually more Chinese options than European, Japanese and Korean options put together once you count the electric vehicles. So what exactly sets the Haval H6 HEV apart? Well, part of the reason is right there in the name. This is the ONLY mid-sized family SUV from a Chinese brand in Malaysia that uses a self-charging hybrid powertrain.
Of all the Chinese car brands out there, GWM is probably the one that’s most like a traditional car maker. Instead of putting all its eggs in the EV game, it understands that EVs are still a niche market and has focused on the off-roader and mid-sized SUV space to build a customer base that will return for another round when they’re ready.
The proof of that is just how widely accepted GWM’s products have become in the Australian market which is full of Toyota, Subaru and Mazda ‘lifers’. They’re not afraid to go after traditional Japanese segments of the market. SUVs like the Tank 300 and Tank 500 feature ladder chassis construction and are capable of serious off-roading. Here, they’re priced well above the RM200,000 mark, but still present themselves as ‘good value’ as the alternative is too expensive for Japanese brand principals to even risk bringing in.
Here in Malaysia, they’ve also gone a rather distinct route with their dealer network. Unlike BYD, Chery and Geely, GWM has parked ALL their sub-brands under one roof to give their dealers scale and reach.
The choice to break into the Malaysian mass market with hybrid is a bold one for GWM to be sure. What it signals is that they’re ready to engage with a more mature market of buyers. It also signals a willingness to go up against the Japanese WITHOUT a back-up plan. In the market, there’s the Honda CR-V Hybrid at RM200K and the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid at RM141K. Both of these Japanese hybrid SUVs are positioned as range-topping options with regular petrol engines available for the more risk averse. With the Haval H6 HEV, GWM are not coming in with the option of a regular petrol engine. You either take the hybrid option, or you don’t take it at all. They’re not throwing all the risk your way though – the engine comes with an industry-leading 10-year/1,000,000km warranty while much of the rest of the hybrid powertrain is covered by an 8-year/1,000,000km warranty.
This isn’t a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), so you just need to fill it up like a normal petrol car and it’ll do all the charging for you. While it’s not quite as efficient as a plug-in hybrid, it’s more consistent and more convenient. Think of it this way – if you don’t charge up your PHEV, you are effectively lugging around a heavy battery that isn’t contributing to its full potential. Even after driving 300km with the H6, we had barely gotten through a quarter of its fuel tank. Mind you, we were doing mixed driving and we were not light on the throttle. GWM officially says it can get about 1000km of out 61 litres of fuel, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it did 1200km.
The hybrid system features a relatively small but efficient 1.76kWh battery from CATL, which produces 70.9kW even when at 50% state of charge. The system switches automatically between EV mode, series and parallel mode depending on driving conditions.
Many still equate hybrid powertrains with underpowered and efficiency focused but this is no longer the case with many of the latest hybrid powertrains including this one. Here, you get 243PS and 530Nm of torque as the vehicle’s combined output. It’s not a dynamic SUV, but it’s certainly not a slow one. It’s sufficiently rapid when speed is needed the most. There is a rather strange 170km/h speed cut-off, but this isn’t the kind of speed anyone should be driving at in Malaysia.
The Haval H6 HEV has a unique character to its on and off-road behaviour. It almost feels like the vehicle has some genuine SUV chassis roots in the way it handles gravel and untarred surfaces. It swallows the imperfections of the road up like a miniature Land Cruiser. For Malaysian road conditions, this kind of behaviour is respectable and even desirable outside of the Klang Valley. However, it’s a bit of a double edged sword. The H6 also rolls a little in the corners, not enough to cause concern but certainly enough for you to notice how un-car-like this is next to its rivals from Toyota and Honda.
I honestly quite liked the rougher-tougher feel of this chassis. Too many SUVs today are just complete softroaders that benchmark hot hatch dynamics but fall way short. I much prefer getting into something that drives like what it looks. I also think that it exhibits fewer jerks and stutters at low speeds versus many of its petrol-DCT rivals from China.
In terms of practicality and equipment, the Haval H6 HEV doesn’t miss out of much. There’s a huge 12.3” into display and another digital 10.25” driver instrument cluster. The 8-speaker sound system isn’t bad, but it’s nothing to write home about. You get a wireless charger, a beveled rotary gear selector, a head-up display, ventilated front seats.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are nice to have – unfortunately these hide away all climate controls, making simple operations like changing the fan speed or temperature a multi-swipe and press action.
You could attempt to use the updated voice command system to do so, but our luck with this was mixed. Seat support is also a bit of a weakness on the Haval H6. If you have longer legs, you might find these seats to be a tad too small.
In most other metrics, I think the Haval H6 HEV does quite alright. It has a generous 560L boot that can be expanded to 1485L with the rear seats folded down. Plus, if you need more space in the rear, there are ‘boss controls’ for the front passenger seat. The large panoramic sunroof comes with a sunblind too. The 360-degree camera’s output is bright and clear and even comes with a transparent bonnet function.
In terms of design, I think here’s where the Haval has a bit of a disadvantage. The rear is a little too busy with all that chrome and the quad emergency brake light. The front is handsome and modern but the unfortunate thing is that there’s already a new version of this car out in other markets and that version has a more advanced and cleaner looking face. The real issue with this exterior is that it just doesn’t pop quite as much as other designs from Jaecoo and Omoda do. Those cars really demand your attention and that may be necessary in this overcrowded market.
The interior is another story. To me, this is the most eye-catching interior in the market with all that white and rose gold. It’s a really bold colour combination and not one we’ve seen done by any other carmaker. The unfortunate thing about the interior is that the material used is not of the most inspiring quality. Plastics are hard and cheap feeling and the leather lacks that supple feel we’ve come to expect from many Chinese makes. That and the poor mix of physical buttons makes the H6 feel like it could do with a revision. We don’t need an old-school cruise control stalk but we do need a couple of buttons and knobs for the AC and seat heating.
It’s minor complaints to an otherwise really earnest offering from one of China’s largest car exporters. In terms of value what you’re getting is rather straightforward – B-segment hybrid pricing with C-segment size, power and equipment. It’s hard to tell if the typical hybrid buyer in Malaysia in 2025 is a conservative middle income family man or a T20 EV-skeptic or someone in between the two. I think it makes its case well but it’s not (and indeed hasn’t) been a breakthrough sales success. GWM Malaysia’s strategy has always been to expand sustainably and that it has done with double digit growth finally happening this year without resorting to deep discounts.
While it’s not for everyone, the Haval H6 HEV was our pick for Hybrid of The Year for a reason. If you simply can’t switch to an EV and can’t be bothered to plug your car in at the end of the day, this is the best value you can get on the market and it’s really not a bad car to daily at all. Check out Joshua Chin’s look at the details on Automacha and Daniel’s point based look at the car here too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSh-FUl3S4k
2024 Haval H6 HEV Specifications
Engine: Inline-4, 16-Valve, DOHC, Turbo Petrol Hybrid
Capacity: 1497cc
Gearbox: Dedicated Hybrid Transmission
Max power: 243PS
Max torque: 530Nm
Top Speed: 170km/h approx
0-100 km/h: 7.7 seconds
Price: RM139,800
