General Motors plans to load a midsize electric pickup truck onto its Hummer lineup, at the request of low-emission cars, according to other people familiar with the matter.
A smaller electric Hummer is still a design concept at GM’s California studio, but it has a clever chance of going into production and is an earlier project, said the people, who asked not to be known because the plans are private. GM is already building the giant Hummer electric pickup truck and will begin construction of a full-size SUV early next year.
Hummer is a key component of GM’s electric vehicle strategy. The company said it spends $35 billion to build 30 electric cars by 2025. It enters the market by attracting high-end consumers with expensive electric cars from Hummer and Cadillac and providing economical models to the fleet. buyers, allowing the automaker to expand its sales volume and manufacturing scale.
GM believes the Hummer logo enjoys great popularity, so a smaller Hummer that is still muscular would be a logical extension, other people said. It could also help GM if it makes the decision to bring the Hummer logo to Europe, which the Detroit-based automaker plans to re-export electric vehicles.
Mikhael Farah, a spokesman for GMC’s GMC truck division, which sells Hummer, declined to comment.
GMC underwent a rebranding and began building a new electric edition of the giant military-style pickup truck in late 2021. The vehicle, which sells for around $110,000, was well received. GM accepted more than 90,000 reservations for the Hummer pickup truck and had to temporarily suspend sales, or even increase the price, to avoid a large backlog of orders.
Hummer GM’s first electric vehicle built from its Ultium battery platform. Production has started slowly, but as the automaker ramps up its battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, GM will be able to ramp up production of the Hummer pickup truck and SUV in the first quarter. The company delivered 781 cars as of September 30.
GM also makes the $60,000 Cadillac Lyriq SUV. Next, it plans to produce the Hummer SUV and a Chevy Silverado electric pickup truck this spring, though the first edition will primarily target advertising customers. A mid-sized Hummer would be in a few years, but it would compete directly with start-up Rivian Automotive Inc. The R1T pickup truck, which is smaller than the Hummer, Ford Motor Co. ‘s F-150 Lightning. and the Silverado EV.
The Hummer logo, a target of environmentalists seeking to restrict fossil fuel emissions, was removed in 2010. GM brought it back as an electric vehicle logo to appeal to consumers who might not have looked at electric cars and paints to shed its gas-hungry image. The giant truck still has a higher carbon footprint compared to other electric cars due to the amount of electrical power needed to run its 1,000-horsepower engine and a weight of 9,200 pounds.
The extension of the logo to include smaller styles has a precedent. GM began promoting the H2 style in 2002, a $60,000 SUV made with parts from Chevy pickup trucks and SUVs. the Detroit-based automaker to keep up with midsize vehicles. Before the demise of the Hummer logo, the H3 SUV and mid-size H3T pickup truck accounted for the largest percentage of sales.
GM acquired Hummer in 1998, six years after AM General introduced it as a civilian edition of the Humvee armored military vehicle that was noted for its role in the Gulf War. Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the first and most public defenders of the logo and its first model, which would later be known as H1.
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