Chinese-made ute is first hybrid one-tonne to face independent crash tester’s analysis.

TOP crash test credentials have been awarded to a Chinese hybrid utility making sales inroads in New Zealand.

The GWM Cannon Alpha has earned a five star accreditation from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme, which holds recognition as New Zealand’s primary crash assessor.

It also stands as the first electrified dual-cab ute tested and rated by the Melbourne-centred independent crash test authority.

The score means the 255kW/648Nm hybrid has the same credential as the 135kW/480Nm turbodiesel edition that has been here for more than a year with ANCAP saying the Cannon Alpha displayed similar levels of performance to other dual-cab utes tested against 2023-2025 criteria.

The maximum score comes thanks to a full suite of driver assist and safety aids, which include seven airbags (including a front centre airbag), front and rear autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, parking sensors, and a 360-degree parking camera.

Praising its protection of occupants – in particular, smaller passengers – ANCAP says the Cannon Alpha scored 93 percent in the child occupant protection portion of testing, the same score awarded to the platform-sharing GWM Tank 500 sports utility.

The safety authority says full points were awarded for both child dummies in the frontal offset (head-on) and side impact (T-bone) crash tests, while the Cannon Alpha also scored well in the tech department, thanks to its child protection detection system.

The safety assist systems scored 81 percent, with ‘good’ marks for its overall performance in emergency lane-keeping and braking intervention scenarios.

An 84 percent score for adult occupant protection and 82 percent for vulnerable road user protection round out its performance, with ANCAP noting the model achieved full points for protection of the driver in side impact testing and the passenger in the front offset test.