GWM has announced a multi-year sponsorship of the Parramatta Eels’ National Rugby League (NRL) and NRL Women’s (NRLW) teams as it looks to lift its NSW market share, which lags behind the Chinese auto brand’s sales performance nationally.
“For Parramatta, the goal is premiership number five. For GWM, our immediate goal is to become Australia’s number five automotive brand. Different scoreboards, but the same ambition to keep climbing,” said GWM chief operating officer John Kett in a statement.
Speaking to CarExpert, Mr Kett explained the Eels sponsorship is a key part of GWM’s push to climb from seventh on the sales ladder into Australia’s top five, with a longer-term ambition to become a top-three brand.
Mr Kett said GWM’s sales performance in NSW lags behind its results elsewhere in Australia.
“We certainly have got a regional focus here in New South Wales. It’s probably a market that our brand underperforms relative to the rest of Australia, and it’s the highest opportunity,” he said.
“On average, we’re close to five per cent share nationally, [but] in New South Wales, we’re 3.8 [per cent], and it’s the biggest market.”
According to Roy Morgan research released in September 2026, the Parramatta Eels are the second-most supported Sydney-based NRL club, behind the BYD-sponsored Sydney Roosters.
The club also reported record membership in 2025, despite finishing 15th out of 17 teams in 2024 and 11th in 2025. It finished 13th in 2026.
The Eels last won a premiership in 1986 and a minor premiership in 2005. Their most recent grand final appearance was in 2022, when they lost 28-12 to western Sydney rivals Penrith Panthers.
The club’s NRLW team was formed in 2021 and also finished runner-up in 2022, losing the grand final 32-12 to Newcastle in its best season to date. It finished eighth out of 11 teams in 2026.
GWM joins German apparel brand Adidas as a new Eels sponsor.
“To have two global brands choose to invest in our Club is a strong endorsement of our vision and reinforces our position as one of the most recognisable and commercially attractive sporting brands in Australia,” said Parramatta Eels chairman Matthew Beach in an update to members last Friday.
GWM said even a small increase in its NSW market share could deliver a substantial sales boost.
“[If] You would pick up one per cent of New South Wales… there’s a lot of cars sitting there for us. We’ve got some real incredible investors, and I think we haven’t paid enough attention to it,” Mr Kett said.
GWM Australia’s marketing chief Steve Maciver said a lack of dealers had previously limited the brand’s ability to capitalise on the opportunity in western Sydney.
“When we distributed our media funds or advertising funds, we used to spend less in Sydney because the network wasn’t there to capitalise,” he said.
That has changed as GWM’s Australian retail network has grown to 130 dealers. Mr Kett said the brand plans to cap its network at around 140, which it considers the ideal size, as it looks to boost NSW sales.
“In return, our dealers have battled single-handedly trying to address it,” Mr Kett explained.
“We’re trying to be clear around what our expectations are, how we’re going to invest in it [NSW], putting some real big investors in some very big, expensive New South Wales PMAs [Primary Market Areas].
“New South Wales, even in itself, has probably got six key areas you’ve got to be conscious of, as in geographical enclaves, [so] we’ve just got to play into that. And of course, this sponsorship will allow [us] to be very strong on one side.”
GWM recorded 44,959 sales in the first nine months of 2026, up 14.3 per cent on the same period in 2025 but behind market-leader Toyota (152,944 sales), BYD (76,614), Kia (60,800), Ford (59,975), Mazda (58,865) and Hyundai (55,995).
“When you think of ‘drive to top five’ and you think ‘improve Sydney, get our channels working a little bit better… let’s get national share out of New South Wales’… suddenly you’re there,” Mr Kett said.
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