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It’s been Hummer week around these parts, as the GMC Hummer EV finally made its debut on Tuesday night. We’ve had a whole slew of stories up — but I wanted to get a sense of what you, the B and B, think of it.
Yes, many of you chimed in on the main news post — now you can do so again, or chirp up if you didn’t before. Yes, Jalop also asked their readers this, but I want to hear from you. Nothing against the competition, but some of our readers don’t comment over there. I want to hear from our B and B.
As for me, I’m indifferent towards the truck. Not in the pejorative “meh” way in which “meh” has a negative connotation. It’s just that I don’t really love/like it or hate it.
I like some things about it. It looks cool, the specs are impressive (assuming GM comes close to the estimates), the CrabWalk feature seems useful for off-roading, it brought back T-tops (big hell yeah from me), and the EV tech looks impressive on paper and could trickle down to other GM products. If lessons learned on Hummer allow GM to better mass-market cheaper EVs that are meant for commuters, that’s a good thing.
All that said, I am not daydreaming of one, nor would I put a poster of one on my wall if I had a room dedicated to car stuff (living in a small condo, I do not have such a room). It’s cool, I guess, but perhaps not my cup of tea.
I’ll review it fairly whenever I get to drive it, but till then, I want to know: What do you think?
[Image: GMC]
This is a niche vehicle, very expensive. Probably won’t sell a lot of these.
@Matt51 – niche expensive vehicles are the best place to start with new technology like this. Companies are less likely to lose money and they can then trickle the technology down to more entry level models. This has worked well for Tesla.
Exactly. And this is a brand-new platform for GM, using brand-new tech. There are bound to be kinks to work out in the real world. If you’re GM, do you want that happening on something you’re depending on for volume, or this boutique model? I’d argue the folks who buy this as a fashion accessory are going to be more tolerant of imperfections than Joe Average would be on his Electro-Malibu. Proof? Every Tesla product ever made.
If anything, I think Ford’s taking a much bigger risk with the Mach-E. They’re expecting to sell that model in volume. Given Ford’s launch issues (cough…Explorer…) we’ll see how that works for them.
“There are bound to be kinks to work out in the real world. If you’re GM, do you want that happening on something you’re depending on for volume,…?”
Having watched GM for 50+ years, I hate to tell you the answer to that question.
Ironically, both FreedMike and Russycle make excellent points.
Well, GM traditionally introduced new technology intended for the Cadillac in Oldsmobiles, like the auto transmission, first to test the tech and manufacturing in volume, and also to protect the reputation of Cadillac if things didn’t work out.
They’ve gone whole-hog in other examples, like the 1980 X-platform, with a half-baked drive train, and not-quite-done hardware. That was spread in volume over nearly the entire portfolio via the miracle of badge engineering.
Freedmike has it right in that this is both an advanced drivetrain and an all-new platform, both of which were high-cost to develop. It makes sense to limit production at an elevated price and stomp the bugs as quickly as they appear.
“Having watched GM for 50+ years, I hate to tell you the answer to that question.”
LOL.
I don’t hate it, but it appears worse than the TRX in every way that matters to me. A gas powered one would be a potential purchase for me.
The “GMC Hummer” thing is also ridiculous.
Looks pretty interesting to me. I may not ever buy one, but I see some appeal.
It’s fine. Pretty much what I expected. A low-volume, high-dollar boutique off-road truck. It isn’t my kind of thing but some people will like it and should be happy by what it delivers. I do hope you can still get it in “Jacka$$ Yellow” though.
I also agree that the name is bad. They should just call it “Hummmer” and sell it in GMC dealers. The vestigial GMC badging doesn’t really work.
I’m not a big truck fan in general and none of the EV truck announcements this year really change that for me. I found the Maverick and that Ram 700 more interesting.
I Love it. but they are making a big deal that this is an EV and its green because of that. but this titan is 800 Volts and i assume you would need a mini nuclear plant to recharge it… the “EPG” has to be really bad, i wonder what the EV evangelist think of this.
@Illan,
“i wonder what the EV evangelist think of this.”
Being pretty deep into the green car world, I’d say the party line is likely to be “it’s not my thing, but it’s one less ICE on the road — and that is a good thing.”
There are haters who like green cars, and they’ll probably have obnoxious opinions. But there are haters who like V8s and have obnoxious opinions, too. [Shrug]
I am in the market for a truck and put down $100 for the Tesla Cybertruck. While the Cybertruck is quite ugly, it is a Tesla and means it will be thoughtfully engineered, have a decent reliability, and a good resale value. It also comes with the best Autopilot tech available, a recharging network, and better range (~200mi more) all for $77,900. Why would I buy a GM product (I am a diehard Chevy fan but also realistic) given their poor product quality and terrible resale? Other than looks, the Hummer fails in every comparison.
Full disclosure: My 2010 Camaro is Jacka$$ Yellow.
T-tops
Also Tesla has had a number of Quality issues as well, not sure they average out much better then GM in that regard.
Tesla SAYS the Cybertruck is going to go for $77900. Given their history, I wouldn’t take that to the bank if I were you.
What would make you think a Tesla is reliable?
And I see today the ChiComs forced a recall for the failing cast aluminum suspension arms (aka whompy wheels) which apparently in the US Musk has talked NHTSA out of doing it.
Will the bumpers stay on in the rain?
Just this weekend I watched a tfl article on how the left rear door latch on their tesla kept failing and they have to keep getting service techs out just to open a door. Then they showed the procedure for getting to the mechanical latch which was comical. I’ve never tried either, but at least in the fairly recent past supercruise was tested as being better at autopilot tech.
I don’t want either of these, but I’m pretty skeptical of the engineering/autopilot tech as reasons. Then I remember the “$35k” Y, which was vaporware for years and only premium Ys were available. So GM’s plan is to start with the expensive one then roll out the less expensive ones over the next 2 model years – so I don’t know maybe Tesla will pull it off but their history suggests otherwise. I’ll buy resale though. Hard for either to win or lose in any comparison since neither truck really exists.
The opening salvo in this saga was “greenie” Prius. Next was “effortless luxury” Tesla. Now we have “brute macho” Hummer for the freedom types. I did not see this coming, but I am really intrigued to watch what this entry will do to vehicular electrification in the US.
The Tesla Cybertruck is likely to win in the marketplace.
It costs less, and has greater range.
It also is closer to being a standard full-sized truck, rather than a boutique off-roader. It’s not a standard full-size truck, and it’s not compatible with the existing pick up truck aftermarket any more than. The 1st generation Honda Ridgeline — but it’s targeting a wider demographic than the Hummer EV.
The Tesla truck is likely to be similar to the Chevy Avalanche and Honda Ridgeline in a lot of ways — except for the energy (electric), looks (ugly like a Jeep), and the tow rating (14,000lbs on the top trim).
It’s going to be interesting to see who buys it. But it’s a safe bet that Telsa’s pricing will attract more buyers than GM’s pricing.
It’s the perfect vehicle for for coyotes to transport their quarry to Biden cages.
I like it. It’s a Halo truck designed to make Electric trucks look cool without being as weird as Cyber Truck. Specs seem damn good, technically the charging network for these is huge, but very few have the current for high speed charging so Tesla still wins there at least short term. It looks like Gm saw Raptor and a Rubicon and said lets do one truck that competes with both and make it electric.
I’m curious about tow rating. If I was spending this much on a unreleased electric pickup I might tend to lean more towards Bollinger for the huge payload, provided they offer a rear bench as an option.
There is no way GM will break the 10,000 annual sales barrier with this vehicle. Hopefully, it will sell better than the Cadillac ELR did. GMs hype of the EV Hummer is not based on marketplace reality.
I like it and think it’s a good move on GM’s part. Their intent is likely to get the Hummer into the hands of media influencers, youtubers, auto journalist and the rich and famous crowd. This will generate lots of publicity and online buzz and build up the Hummer brand. It’s not a real-world vehicle that I will ever have access to, but maybe sometime down the road it will lead to something smaller and more affordable that some of could actually afford.
@CannonShot
Exactly.
Volts and Leaf’s don’t generate much buzz.
It feels like a perverted play on the electric/green idea, in a way I like it, mostly I don’t and it probably has to do with what Hummer represented just before it was snuffed out.
I guess its ok to crush the tundra, bunnies and left lane hogs into submission as long as you do it with an electric vehicle.
It looks damn cool, love the T-tops and SUT bodystyle. That’s what the H2 should have been. But…electric? WHY?!?! Who is this even for? Macho treehuggers don’t exist. Technophiles want something softer, and more friendly looking. Overlanders and boondockers cant do a damn thing with batteries…you’re gonna carry a diesel generator with you out in the desert? Get real. If GM wanted to slip electric drivetrains into heavy trucks, there’s a right way to do it, although it’s nothing new: basically the same setup as those huge mining dump trucks and locomotives. A small V8 working as a generator for traction motors might’ve been kinda cool. And uncorking the exhaust/hotrodding the engine and doing the usual suspension mods would still be an option. HARD pass, especially since the TRX is what most will buy. Pity Ram doesn’t have this exact bodystyle, it would make one helluva Ramcharger redux with everything from the 345 up to the TRX under the hood.
Your comment just inspired me.
Carry a diesel generator in the bed and plug it into the charger port. Presto! Instant plug in hybrid with no range anxiety and the diesel motor controls can be modded to be a coal roller!! Right? Get on it third party suppliers. :-)
I admire GM for trying to get me to switch to EVs through free-market rational persuasion (“Buy our electric truck…it looks cool, it goes fast, it’s nice inside, it’s cheap to recharge!”) rather than Big Brother protectionism (“Buy our electric truck, because we’ve outlawed the production of ICE trucks and you have no other choice.”).
I can see the day coming where I will use a small electric vehicle for commuting and a large, comfortable ICE vehicle for road-tripping. But let me make that choice for myself.
Certainly the best electric truck to be announced but that’s also its biggest failing. It’s electric and essentially nothing more than a fashion accessory.
But it will be a much better product than the Tesla truck which will never see the light of day…at least not in the form of the window-breaking monstrosity Muskrat showed in his failed debut.
I mean it in the nicest way possible but this is the new Escalade. This will cannibalize that volume and hopefully demonstrate drivetrain maturity that can be leveraged across platforms. These will go off-road as often as most Range Rovers and print just as much money. Hummer vs Cybertruck will be the next-generation halo vehicle competition by a wide margin.
That being said, the release will be horrible if GM is actually that far behind on development testing. Their market timing had to keep pace with Tesla but unfortunately they’ll have similarly poor initial quality as well.
I wouldn’t buy one, but I think it shows where the real future of EVs will be: trucks and work vehicles. I’m all for it. Going after this buyer solves a lot of problems.
1) Price – EV is more expensive. Well, so are trucks. Lots of businesses are going to be smart enough to realize that the higher initial cost of an EV truck are going to be made up in the long run with lower daily operating costs, and less expensive mechanical maintenance.
2) Packaging – EV takes up a lot of space and weighs more. Trucks are bigger, taller vehicles and weigh too much as it is, so who cares about adding more weight?
3) Profit – people aren’t going to be buying $40,000 EVs in volume anytime soon. That means that market is going to be low-profit. Well, trucks are high-margin items to begin with.
As manufacturers begin to make money on these EV trucks, they can amortize their costs and pass the tech down to smaller, more affordable vehicles.
It’s win-win.
Going after this buyer solves a lot of problems.
It does. But it also causes the problem of needing a very big battery. It also means EV adoption will likely happen much slower than many governments and pundits have signaled.
I think you’re right when you say EV adoption is going to happen slower than some think it will. But I don’t think EV trucks and SUVs makes that happen slower – if anything, I think it speeds things along.
Nothing succeeds like glorious excess, especially in the richer end of the faux Gee-look-at-me-I’m-tough market these days. In the popular field, expect the eventually forthcoming Bronco to be the tough-guy aftermarket-accessory stylized 4×4 with custom battlefield searchlights, big rig airhorns and supersized wheels, all the better to prowl the local fast food strip with real macho.
No matter the income, a feller’s got to feel he’s King Kong once in a while.
The financial nouveau riche types coining money out of fluff like corporate share buybacks have already reserved the entire first year’s Hummer production from what I’ve read. Yee haw!
I was never much of a fan of the original Hummer. A bit too bloated for me but I like what they did with the new one. It seems to smooth out a lot of edges. I see a lot of Avalanche in it with the mid gate. Bringing back T-tops gives it a fun vibe. And of course the frunk.
Granted it’s a halo vehicle but so was the Lamborghini LM.
Hopefully the next model will be something along the lines of the H4 prototype or a Wrangler Bronco sized utility vehicle in the $60-80 range.
The styling kind of works for me, but I’ll wait until I see one in person. I don’t currently desire an off-road vehicle, electric or otherwise, even after briefly being interested in a manual Bronco (knowing full well it would never have gone off-road). I respect that manufacturers are building electric vehicles for multiple competing market segments to fully test and refine electric technologies; I imagine there are certain cases where an electric powertrain could have certain benefits over ICE when off-roading, as well as the obvious drawbacks, and it makes sense to figure out mitigation measures.
With that said, I suspect a hybrid is the next logical move in powertrain progression for me, even if I’m not actively seeking one.
My take is:
It will be delayed, cheaper versions delayed even more. They won’t sell as many as they could because they won’t have the capacity to build them. EV’s will remains a hobby for GM for now.
“What’s Your Take on the Hummer?” Initial impressions:
Interior: You can picture the “theme wall” the stylists utilized for the “Lunar Horizon themed interior” (standard on “Edition 1” models): Apollo Lunar Module plus Lunar Roving Vehicle plus GM/NASA Robonaut2 (google it) plus SpaceX spacesuits (see the seat pictures at the GMC link) plus lunar map. [And some Tesla pictures in a drawer.]
Offroad Capability: High [as predicted]. Crabwalk, Extract Mode and UltraVision are cool.
Marketing: Video imagery borrows heavily from Mustang Mach E (horses!). Exterior design accents crib FCA trucks (look for the stylized American flag).
Reservations: Copying Ford who are copying Telsa [GM can’t copy first, but it’s okay now that Ford has broken the ice]. Selling out early is ‘impressive’ but only $100 and completely refundable means reservation holders aren’t necessarily very committed.
Timeline: One article said that Mary Barra [GM’s first engineer CEO in quite awhile] is pushing the accelerated development timeline. If the separate components have been ‘tested’ in advance it might actually work out that fewer development mules are required. (The integration has likely been digitally modeled.)
Dealer Model: Clearly trying to move to more of a (redacted) sales model. [Refer to Tesla documents in the drawer.]
So, copying from here there and everywhere and from Tesla a lot and doing it quickly and it’s a moon shot and space! and will it work we’re not sure pay no attention to the Corvette behind the curtain fingers crossed go!
I wanna watch what happens when someone actually takes one of these off road and bounces down hard on a pointy rock right into the battery pack.
Yeah, I’ll bet the engineers didn’t think of that.
Have you seen the armor plate under the Tesla Model S obliterate a cinder block?
https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/355vze/teslas_new_titanium_underbody_shield_vs_a_block/
Looks ok, but I think price point is about $30K too high
Agreed.
The Tesla Cybertruck is going to eat their lunch, volume wise.
The highest trim Cybertruck costs $70k, while the lowest trim GMC Hummer costs $80k.
But, as stated above, the GMC Hummer may really be a beta test, with other vehicles to follow once they’ve proven the platform. I haven’t heard GM state that this is the plan, but it would be a sensible plan.
As for me, I currently own a GMC Sierra 2-Mode Hybrid. It’s a good fit for my needs at the moment, and I’m more interested in a drop-in replacement for a regular full-sized pickup truck than I am in a boutique off-roader. The Cybertruck appears to be much closer to the intersection of my budget and my needs/wants.
Rich corinthian skidplates are just as stupid as the swaybars were but that’s where luxury is right now and between batteries getting better and the 1% getting bailed out harder than ever a luxurious EV may actually be ready for primetime.
Worker drones have been knocked down far enough that I don’t suppose I really count as one anymore but my sympathies are still there and as such I’d be ashamed to be seen in this thing – which suggests they’ll sell like hotcakes.
The Hummer…what do I think of it you ask? I don’t. I don’t think about it. That’s all.
Humbug…
As I recall, the “Humbug” was a rear-engined Volkswagen Beetle-based kit car with fiberglass bodywork that closely resembled that of the Hummer. GM sued Humbug over the name and the vehicle was rechristened the “Wombat.”
I wonder what current compact electric vehicle would be suitable to have its bodywork replaced with fiberglass that resembles the new Hummer? Maybe something based on the Bolt or its upcoming CUV replacement? Since the Bolt is already part of the GM family, it wouldn’t have the name issues and it could be called the Humbug.
I’m sure that string of non-sequitirs means something to the converted in your political cult, but they’re not relevant here.
Yeah, but what is the replacement for a jerry can for this?
The aforementioned noisy Harbor Freight generator strapped in the bed with a couple of jerry cans of year-old gasoline.
@TimK,
Ok, I’m sorry I asked:-) Though what you describe does sound like a model of efficiency. When you mention year-old gasoline it brings back to me the smell of many half rotten gas tanks with gasoline that was quite mature from cars, etc. of my youth. Aah, I can smell it still…
And, why do so many men feel more comfortable around the smell of old machinery than in more elegant locations? You know, that garage smell of a mixture of old gasoline, miscellaneous lubricants, and carcinogenic cleaning solvents.
this company couldn’t market generators in a power outage. anyone who thinks they somehow got a clue is a fool.
same outfit that went from over 50% share to a weak hold on 15% which exists only because of retirees and the dealer body.
Hummer is reminiscent of SSR, all hype, no sales. just another boondoggle on the way to the second BK.
Buickman
Founder
GeneralWatch.com
DollingerDifference.com
I was shocked to see an SSR in the wild the other day.
The Hummer EV will do better, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the name retired again in less than 10 years.
So, the interior is one of the least attractive I have seen in a long time. As far as the crab walk, they should have chosen a better place to show it as the overhead video has it going through a canyon a Power Wagon could have just made the turns through it is so wide. It probably is a handy trick, just show me where it works and the vehicle behind has trouble because it doesn’t have that feature. At least it isn’t a glorified Suburban or Colorado/Canyon this time.
I like it, but I also liked the H2 I drove through 2006.