GMC Hummer: heavy-duty 4×4 EV with 745kW
The tease has re-started for the new GMC Hummer battery electric off-roader with a reveal date coming in the next couple of months.
But GMC, General Motors’ truck and 4×4 brand has also released a sneak peek video of the Hummer that show both a ute and wagon are coming and some of their key features.
GMC was originally intending to reveal the reborn Hummer on May 20, but that got pushed back because of the coronavirus.
While it’s now our Spring (their Fall or Autumn), the actual on-sale date in the USA is a further 12 months out.
Australia? Well that’s an open question considering GM has axed Holden and intends to retain only a small presence here with a new business called GM Specialty Vehicles.
Yet to be finalised let alone launched and detailed, GMSV would be the logical business to eventually import GM’s burgeoning range of EVs to Australia.
Originally, the Hummer was a military vehicle maker that GMC parent General Motors purchased and attempted to expand into a line-up of off-road vehicles.
It went into mothballs more than a decade ago when the GFC struck and GM entered bankruptcy.
But now it has been reconstituted as an EV-only GMC sub-brand.
The video footage makes clear the GMC Hummer EV retains the styling essentials of the original, but big ICE drivetrains have been traded in for up to three electric motors.
The video hypes various aspects of the GMC Hummer’s performance package.
The key take-outs include as much as 745kW (1000hp) electric motor power and a monster 15,592Nm (11,500lb-ft) worth of torque.
GMC claims the Hummer can hit 96km/h (60mph) in 3.0 seconds. For more relaxed driving, it also includes the next-gen Super Cruise semi-automated driver assist system.
There were also references to ‘Adenalin Mode’ – which is presumably what happens when 745kW hits the road – and ‘Crab Mode’, an off-road specific feature that should allow the Hummer to do tight u-turns on loose surfaces.
The video showed a clay buck of a Hummer EV and a prototype with a large front trunk (or frunk) open and its removable T-top roof – which GMC calls an Infinity Roof – off.
There are also ouline images of the ute (SUT) and wagon (SUV), pictured above.
The GMC Hummer is based on GM’s new third-generation BEV3 modular EV platform and employs GM’s Ultium batteries, which range in size from 50-200kWh and include both 400- and 800-volt designs.
Before we see the Hummer in-full, GM will take the covers off the BEV3-based Cadillac Lyriq SUV on August 6. GM has just issued a teaser shot of that vehicle as well.
