Beer O'Clock Hill has a reputation for good reason. Steep, rocky and unforgiving, it's beaten plenty of heavily built four wheel drives, and it's where GWM made its point in 2025: the Cannon XSR, Tank 300 Diesel and Cannon Alpha PHEV all fought their way to the summit to earn the title of Beer O'Clock Hill Certified. For 2026 we came back for more, this time with the Tank 300 PHEV and Tank 500 PHEV, both running GWM's Hi4-T Plug-in Hybrid system, with no major modifications. Two vehicles, one brutal hill, cameras on every angle.
Beer O'Clock Hill: Back for More
The hill that breaks 4x4s, two Hi4-T hybrids, and a third contender nobody expected.
March 2026
The Tank 300 PHEV went first. The lower section is sharp rock, deep ruts and a gradient that makes vehicles work for every metre, and it's the final rock step near the top where most attempts come undone. The Tank 300 PHEV walked through all of it, instant hybrid torque feeding through the mechanical four wheel drive and locking differentials, and crested the summit with the crew laughing at how easy it looked.
Then the bigger brother. More size, more luxury, the same obstacles. The Tank 500 PHEV settled into the climb, put its power down smoothly through the same rock step that catches everything else, and rolled over the top.
That should have been the end of the story. Both plug-in hybrids were Beer O'Clock Hill Certified and the mission was done. But the 4WD TV crew laid down a challenge nobody had planned for: take a completely unmodified Tank 300 PHEV, on the standard road tyres it drives off the showroom floor with, and point it at the hill.
The crew got the green light. First attempt, straight up: through the lower section, over the ruts, past the rock step and onto the summit. The first plug-in hybrid to beat Beer O'Clock Hill in factory road-tyre form, and quite possibly the first vehicle of any kind to do it on highway tyres.
Five GWM models have now conquered Beer O'Clock Hill, and you've just watched two more earn it, plus the run nobody saw coming. The Tank 300 PHEV that topped the hill on road tyres is the same vehicle sitting in the showroom. No special build, no excuses left.
