An electric Hummer

Source:

GM is allegedly thinking of restarting the Hummer brand, but as an EV.

From Green Car Reports:

The idea of bringing back the Hummer brand is on the table at General Motors.

Yes, that’s the brand that was much maligned by environmentalists in the ‘00s, for becoming a plus-sized piece of hypocrisy on wheels, a fashion statement of American excess riffing off the Humvee, a vehicle that helped fight the war (in part) to secure the flow of foreign oil.

“I love Hummer,” said GM president Mark Reuss to reporters on June 12, when asked specifically about the brand. “I’m not sure. We’re looking at everything.”

A Hummer EV could potentially be built on GM’s upcoming BEV3 dedicated electric vehicle platform—a platform that GM has already confirmed could also (at least in part) be the foundation for an electric pickup.

To look at it another way, GM may have a hard time justifying bringing the Hummer brand back in any way other than as an all-electric brand—especially in light of CEO Mary Barra's stated goal to transition GM toward an all-electric future. Hummer met its demise in 2010, at a time of greater awareness of efficiency, the recession, and a different, reformed company.

The Hummer H2, which is the one that was most maligned over time, shared some of its building blocks with GM’s full-size trucks but was built to a higher weight class—such that it didn’t require an EPA mileage rating (it was single-digit mpg, by most accounts). There was a smaller Hummer, the H3, but even that more efficient model got an EPA-rated 9 mpg city in its popular V-8 H3T form.

If Hummer were to come back that way, it would land somewhere between two brands that have seen a fair amount of buzz over the past couple of years: Rivian and Bollinger. With its military heritage and more of an off-road focus, an electric Hummer could be a more rugged counterpoint to Rivian, as well as a somewhat more practical alternative to the specialized, high-end Class 3 truck Bollinger intends to build.

Hummer sales reached their peak in 2006, with 71,524 sold that year, according to Automotive News. While that was definitely still niche territory, it was enough for Hummers to be quite a common sight on American streets.

From Autoblog:

GM is reportedly considering a return to the Hummer brand, but not in the traditional Hummer way. No, a report from Bloomberg says that GM is mulling over the idea of building an electric Hummer. The report cites unnamed sources within GM, as the folks prefer not to be named due to the private nature of the conversations.

At this point, Bloomberg characterizes the Hummer talks as preliminary discussions. GM is figuring out how it wants to organize its future electric trucks and SUVs, and Hummer is a part of those discussions. Just as anyone would expect, Hummer could be used to profit off the current demand for rugged and tough vehicles. Mark Reuss didn't commit either way to a Hummer revival when asked by Bloomberg. "I love Hummer. I don't know. We're looking at everything," Reuss said.

Other GM sources said that the company sees an opportunity to compete with Jeep for off-road vehicles that have creature comforts commanding high premiums. The report states that designers have done work with Hummer concepts, experimenting with Hummer styling to implement it on GMC-branded products, too.

I would suggest that this is a clear sign that GM is serious about EVs.   It's no longer just planning "compliance cars" required by California regulations (like the Chevrolet Bolt) but luxury muscle cars consumers will pay up for.  Interesting.