Driving to the
sky and back

Imagine pointing a car at the sky and deciding it can be done. That is exactly what the GWM Tank 500 makes possible. This is achievable because of an arsenal of cutting-edge off-road technology. This luxury SUV is not only built for dirt trails; it is also engineered to tackle near-vertical inclines and terrifying descents that would make most 4x4s whimper in fear.

I was a passenger in the vehicle while an experienced GWM driver took me to the sky and back.

Putting a 70-degree slope into perspective:
• Ninety degrees is a vertical wall. Seventy degrees is just twenty degrees shy of straight up.
• Most off-road vehicles max out at around forty-five degrees before traction, weight distribution, and sheer terror become problems.
• At this angle, gravity is fighting hard. The Tank 500 is not merely climbing; it is defying physics.

The Tank 500 Hybrid packs a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 paired with an electric motor, delivering 517 Nm of torque, essential for crawling up a near-vertical surface. The hybrid system ensures instant electric torque the moment the throttle is pressed, preventing any lag that could cause a rollback.

_{Photo: SHERYL GOLDSTUCK.}

The nine-speed automatic transmission includes an ultra-low crawl mode, multiplying torque to the wheels for slow, controlled climbing. Without this, the Tank 500 would either stall or spin its wheels uselessly.

The locking differentials are essential:
• Centre differential lock: Ensures power is split evenly between the front and rear axles.
• Rear differential lock: Prevents one wheel from spinning if traction is lost.
• Front differential lock (optional): For extreme cases where maximum grip is needed.

On a 70-degree climb, if one wheel loses grip, the Tank 500 instantly redirects power to the wheels that still have traction, maintaining upward movement instead of sliding backward.

While not directly used in climbing, the Tank Turn feature (which brakes one side of the vehicle while the other spins) demonstrates how precise the braking and torque-vectoring systems are. They are critical for maintaining control at extreme angles.

And then the terrifying descent: going down a 70-degree drop. If climbing up was hard, going back down is a heart-stopping experience. At 70 degrees, the nose of the Tank is practically pointing straight at the ground. One wrong move, and it would be in freefall.

_{Photo: SHERYL GOLDSTUCK.}

This is the technology that kept me alive on the descent:

1. Ultra-Sensitive Hill Descent Control (HDC)
   The Tank 500’s HDC system automatically modulates braking to keep descent speed at a crawl (usually 3–5 km/h). Unlike older systems that apply brakes intermittently, this one uses real-time traction feedback to adjust braking pressure on each wheel.
2. 360-Degree camera system with Incline Angle Display
   With no visibility over the hood when pointing straight down, the Tank 500’s transparent hood camera and 360-degree view show exactly where the wheels are placed. The inclinometer displays the pitch angle in real time, so I knew just how extreme the situation was.
3. Anti-rollover and Traction Control
   If the system detects imminent rollover, it can cut power and apply individual brakes to stabilise the vehicle. On a descent, this prevents the SUV from nosediving or flipping forward.
4. Reinforced chassis and suspension
   The body-on-frame construction and multi-link suspension keep the Tank 500 rigid even at extreme angles. If the suspension were too soft, the weight shift could cause a loss of control.

Is this something we would do in South Africa? Probably not, unless we were at an extreme off-road park with a perfectly controlled surface. A 70-degree slope is beyond even most rock-crawling trails, but the fact that the GWM Tank 500 can do it demonstrates that its engineering is on another level.

* Sheryl Goldstuck is general manager of World Wide Worx and editor of GadgetWheels. Follow her on Bluesky on @crazycatbuzz.bsky.social.