GMC flips on the lights of 1,000-hp all-electric Hummer super-truck

The ultimate symbol of the fuel-drunk XL SUV excess of the 1990s, "Hummer" was an obvious Public Enemy #1 when tastes turned to smaller, cleaner, more efficient commuters. Not long after the turn of the millennium, the world stopped embracing laughably inefficient, oversized light military vehicles for the road and chased Hummer into hiding. At the dawn of a new decade, is the world now ready to welcome a new, improved Hummer back into the fold? What if it promises to play nicely with the environment this time around? We'll get to find out because General Motors confirms that the nameplate is on its way back and will be tattooed across the seven-slat face of an all-electric GMC truck with supercar-like specifications.

With military roots and imposing dimensions, Hummers, particularly H1s, were always larger-than-life vehicles. And if one thing is made clear in today's GMC Hummer announcement, it's that the new Hummer will revive that larger-than-life legacy. A "revolutionary zero-emissions truck," the GMC Hummer will feature an electric drive with no fewer than 1,000 horses (745 kW) and 11,500 lb-ft (15,590 Nm) of torque. That will send what should rightfully be a beast of a truck screaming to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) in a mere 3 seconds.

"GMC builds premium and capable trucks and SUVs, and the GMC Hummer EV takes this to new heights," says Duncan Aldred, Buick and GMC vice president.

Hummer won't be returning quietly. General Motors will make some noise in bringing it back, kicking the marketing campaign off with a 30-second Super Bowl ad entitled "Quiet Revolution," to air during the second quarter of the game on Sunday. That ad will focus on the new truck's quiet but potent on/off-road performance. GMC will also take over the YouTube homepage masthead on Friday, January 31 as part of the marketing blitz.

Though the marketing is underway, the GMC Hummer EV won't make its official world premiere until May 20, 2020, long before sales start in Fall 2021. GM will build it at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which will receive a US$2.2 billion overhaul to become GM's first assembly plant dedicated solely to electric vehicle production.

In an announcement about its Detroit-Hamtramck plans on Monday, General Motors said that its first all-electric truck will be a pickup to enter production in late 2021. That lines up with the GMC Hummer EV details released today, so the new Hummer won't be a Jeep-style 4x4 but a pickup truck, and going by the silhouette teased during Monday's press conference, it will be a traditional pickup, not a 4x4 with short bed like the original H1 or Jeep Gladiator.

We're not really sure that launching a ridiculously overpowered toy truck is the best way to convince the world it's an all-new day for the Hummer brand, but that's what GM is going to do. And we look forward to watching. At the very least, a neutral-ground Hummer vs. Tesla Cybertruck tug of war should be a whole lot more compelling than the F-150/Cybertruck marketing footage Elon Musk showed at the Cybertruck premiere.

Source: General Motors