GAC Philippines has something interesting planned as it announced its Discovery Drive Festival scheduled on Aug. 25 to 27, 2023 at the Palm Drive Activity Area in Glorietta.

There, eventgoers can see the latest from the automaker and test drive its Philippine lineup of vehicles. GAC will also unveil a new car at the event, rumored to be a new variant of the GAC GS8.

While the poster image doesn’t reveal much aside from the familiar silhouette of the GS8, we can look at the variants of the sport-utility vehicle (SUV) abroad for clues.

For starters, the locally available GS8 is currently a front-wheel drive model, while other markets have the SUV with a four-wheel drive (4WD) model available.

This indicates that GAC was feeling out in the Philippine market when it first launched the GS8 to see if there was a demand for its 4WD variant.

More grip

From the looks of things, the automaker could bring out the 4WD GS8 on Aug. 25. 

As the GS8 is the brand’s flagship model, bringing in a new variant with all the bells and whistles available makes sense, giving customers what they want in their next SUV.

The 4WD model will allow drivers to navigate uneven terrain thanks to its many driving modes, such as Sand, Mud and Snow.

Turbo power

We expect the same 2.0-liter turbocharged engine to be available for the 4WD model.

This pushes out 252 PS and 400 Nm of torque, sending power to all four corners via an 8-speed automatic transmission.

We expect it to have the same features found in the FWD GT version, which includes full leather seats with ventilation, a panoramic sunroof, a 14.6-inch infotainment system and a 10-speaker sound system. 

No other information has been revealed, but we expect pricing to be close to the ₱2.5 to 2.7 million range.

Are you looking forward to GAC's mystery SUV?

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