General Motors is reportedly plotting a mid-size Hummer ute, with the all-electric pick-up truck to do battle in the same weight division as vehicles like the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.
The reports have surfaced in the United States, where sources have leaked that a design study of the mid-size Hummer pick-up truck is already underway, and that the vehicle has been deemed a priority project.
The revival of the Hummer brand as an electric-only offering has been hugely successful in the USA. GM is holding some 90,000 reservations, and was forced to pause sales to keep up with demand.
All of which is made even more impressive by the fact that the Hummer retails for around US$110,000 ($A175,000).
The reports suggest GM is keen to capitalise on that popularity by entering an all-new segment with Hummer – namely the mid-size ute category currently occupied by models like the Ford Ranger, the Chevrolet Colorado and the Toyota Tacoma.
The model would be Hummer-styled, and would ride on GM’s Ultium battery platform. In full-size truck and SUV guise, the Hummer offers three electric motors producing up to 745kW (in range-topping Edition 1 guise).
GM says the Hummer EV Edition 1 will sprint from zero-to-96km/h (60mph) in three seconds, and has an all-electric driving range of 563km. It’s also setup for 800-volt DC fast charging up to 350kW, which the brand says will add 160km of range in just 10 minutes.
There is also plenty of off-road cred with standard 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory tyres, significant underbody protection, a four-wheel-steering system with a crabwalk function, and adaptive air suspension that can raise its ground clearance by 152mm. Inside, there is a 13.4-inch touchscreen multimedia system as well as a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, which can show up to 18 different camera views via its UltraVision underbody camera system.
How much of that technology would make its way to a mid-size Hummer ute remains to be seen, but you can all but guarantee that the model would shoot for top-tier outputs and range, in keeping with its bigger brother.
While GM – or GMSV – is yet to reveal details of a Hummer launch in Australia, the brand has shown a willingness to import left-hand-drive vehicles for local conversion for our market, so an Aussie debut isn’t entirely off the table.
If it was to arrive, though, it would be unlikely to be touching down anytime soon. In the USA, the reservation banks for the full-size version top 90,000 customers, but the company has so far delivered less than 1000 vehicles –and that’s before production on the SUV variant even begins.
That’s a big order book to work through, and one that would shift Australia – if a launch was to occur here – some way down the priority list.
The Hummer is part of GM’s plan to launch 30 EVs by 2025.
Keyword: The ultimate off-road ute? GM plots new mid-size Hummer pick-up truck to take on the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger