GM Interested In Bringing Hummer Back—Seriously
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Hummer departed this world for good in 2010, but its death has left a bittersweet taste on the tongues of General Motors executives.
As GM watches off-road SUVs climb in popularity, specifically Jeep’s goldmine in the Wrangler, there are legitimate whispers of bringing the Hummer brand back to life, Bloomberg reported Monday. There’s a catch: Hummer would be GM’s electric off-road brand, which would give the brand a totally new identity. The news comes from unnamed sources that reportedly have information on the discussions taking place at a high level.
Think of this reborn Hummer as a direct rival to Rivian, which plans for an electric pickup truck and SUV next decade. GM and Rivian broke off negotiations about investment and using the latter’s platform for electric vehicles earlier this year. Shortly after, Ford and Rivian announced a partnership and investment.
A new Hummer brand would likely be another premium SUV and truck division, which could also absorb more of the costs associated with battery-electric powertrains better than Chevrolet.
2008 Hummer HX Concept. Could this have been the H4?
Mark Reuss, GM President, said on June 12th that he “loves” Hummer and the company is “looking at everything” but he wasn’t sure about a revived Hummer. Crucially, he didn’t outright deny discussions about bringing Hummer back from the dead.
GM purchased the civilian Hummer brand from AM General in 1998 and launched the first H1 in 1999. The H2 and H3 followed later in the 2000s. Sales of the brand peaked in 2006 with 71,524 models sold. From there, the brand declined as the economy spiraled out of control and oil prices skyrocketed. Quickly, Hummer became a poster child for gas-guzzling SUVs and climate change.
Today, the same sources said there have been some Hummer concepts worked up inside the halls of GM. Designers have also experimented with some Hummer design cues for future GMC models, too.
Should Hummer make a comeback, its launch is likely years away. GM is focused on its BEV3 platform and launching an electric Cadillac SUV on the architecture first. Work is also underway on an electric pickup truck. An electric Hummer, therefore, wouldn’t come until the mid-2020, most likely.
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Source: Bloomberg
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When they figure money saved by spreading out development costs, they have to also figure in the costs to revive and market the new nameplate.
Leave Hummer in the past. Let GMC carry the electric truck torch while incorporating the best engineering features of Hummer, if they so desire.
Exactly.
Considering that Cadillac’s ultimate fate is in question and GMC, while profitable, faces a daunting task regarding emissions since the brand is solely SUVs and trucks, GM needs to make sure that these two brands survive. They are in no shape to be adding brands, especially large SUV brands. Having too many brands is what got them into the 2008 bankruptcy mess in the first place.
Instead of reviving the brand why not build a GMC Hummer to challenge Wrangler?
Off roaders are the new muscle cars, and this move would fill a huge void in the GM line up.
Then again, maybe it’s time to kill Caddy and replace with Hummer–NOT, but I could see it happen.
Does GM still own the rights to the Hummer name and Brand ?
Yes.
Hummer was a success that was mismanaged at a time GM could not afford to turn it around.
#1 GM should have made Hummer a part of GMC and not a independent brand. This would have made it easier to adjust products.
#2 they should have gotten the smaller more efficient Jeep like model out sooner.
#3 They needed the H3 truck that was still born.
#4 if brought back it need a ICE version too.
The truth was most Hummer models were no worse on MPG than many other models. The EV can help change that but also small 4 cylinder turbocharge Wrangler competitors could do the same.
The greatest challenge is there is no major majority crying out for EV off road vehicles. Nor trucks. Yes there is a few folks but most people really don’t care and will not pay a premium price for one.
The one thing is Hummers yet today are in good demand and still command high resale prices on the used market.
I hope GM finally figures out how to leverage the Hummer brand better and reaches out to EV and ICE buyers.
I think the only way GM can bring Hummer back is to go directly the Rivian Route.
Be pure EV and just Bad Ass off road. Crazy EV range and extremely pricey. This will do two things for GM.
One: It will make money for GM for their EV investment that they can then use on lesser EV models.
Two: It will bring public awareness to the EV Technology that GM is capable of. They will be able to (This is just wishful thinking on my part) go head to head with Tesla with Cadillac. And these new Hummers can go toe to toe with the upstart Rivian and or Tesla Pickup Truck.
I think this will be a win win situation for GM.
How on earth are you going to be able to go off roading with a all electric Hummer?
Hummer is a good idea
“A new Hummer brand would likely be another premium SUV and truck division, which could also absorb more of the costs associated with battery-electric powertrains better than Chevrolet.”
Does this translate to…”Chevrolet leadership doesn’t want to spend their money on creating a brand new off road platform for a product that doesn’t fit (premium and off road) smoothly into their brand market. This is a niche product that may or may not pay off, so it is better to have its own name and assets should losses need to be written off and the brand is tarnished.” ?
As it is now, I don’t hear any potential customers saying, “Gee, I’d really like to have a battery-powered, off-road capable SUV.”.
Very true.
Not many charging station let alone electric out on the trails.
They need the EV for the folks in Hollywood to drive to the Oscars and they need an ICE for the folks to drive at Moab.
Ask Rivian and Tesla if customers are asking them for such a vehicle. I think this will be a Home Run for GM if they actually have the you know what to go through with this.
I’m on board if the the intent t is to keep it an offroad capable brand and not crossovers pretending to be off roaders with tons of black body cladding and 4 cylinder engines just for the sake of sales.
Based on the CT4-V and CT5-V specs, I’m afraid this is exactly what GM would do – leverage the name/legend to sell some pretenders while the market is hot, and until they ruin the brand.
I bought an H2 (2003). I like driving it. The fuel mileage is what’s really bad about it. I’ve also own a Ram2500 diesel. It gets better mileage than the H2. Better torque, better pull than my H2. Weighs less too. 3/4T pickup to a H2. Weight difference 3200#. All one can do in a H2 is look cool. Should of used a Suburdan size chassis and made it a true 4×4 not an all wheel drive vehicle.
Now thats good news! Bringing back the nameplate without the poor fuel economy baggage is a great idea. This time they must finally go after JEEP with real off road capable vehicles. Full electric, Voltec, and Diesel powertrains. Make it so, GM!
Hummer would be nice though
Hummer, like Pontiac ,Saturn and Oldsmobile is gone and it should stay that way. Mr. Reuss and everyone else at GM should concentrate more of their money and energy on improving their existing brands and models for “this” market, not China.
Of all the Brands that were closed down, Hummer is the only one that can make a comeback. But it has to be pure EV and priced accordingly like Rivian will be. GM needs a money making EV brand. Hummer makes perfect sense as they will not be saddled with ICE Tech like Cadillac. Just think of the amazing Press GM will receive for Hummer coming back and being Pure EV.
GM wouldn’t be able to spend enough money in advertising to bring themselves back that kind of amazing Press on anything else.
Smart, but it needs to be executed properly. Personally, I would bring the Hummer lineup back under the GMC umbrella, replacing the GMC Terrain and the GMC Yukon (read on before anyone starts to panic here). This actually could be a good sign for GM and hopefully they will bring back something else they should never have gotten rid of, Pontiac. Here’s how I would work Hummer into the equation. Getting rid of the GMC Terrain gives room for a Colorado based Hummer H3 ( i dont know if that’s what hummer is going to call it but everyone knows the H1, H2, H3 so I’m going to use those names for this.) This vehicle would not only go after the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited but it would also do battle with the Jeep Scrambler pickup with an H3T setup. The Hummer H2 would sit in the lineup where the Yukon currently sits with trim packages including a H2 Denali and an H2T Denali. The Yukon XL would change it’s name to Suburban and GMC would bring back the GMC Jimmy, dropping the Acadia from the lineup and offering a full lineup for the Jimmy including a 3.6L Twin Turbo Typhoon. The Canyon would keep it’s current lineup and add a Syclone with the 3.6L Twin turbo setup, completing the GMC lineup. What would be even nicer would be for GM to resurrect the Pontiac lineup as the car lineup for GMC, giving us a Alpha platform Firebird, an Alpha platform Grand Prix and a VSS-R platform Bonneville.
If GM were to do this, it could also restructure Chevrolet a little bit along with Buick and Cadillac. Buick would be the hybrid/electric lineup of GM while Cadillac would receive the Corvette as it is now a completely different vehicle and nowhere on the Corvette is a Chevrolet badge anyway. Chevrolet would get a redesigned Alpha-2 platform Camaro, an Alpha-2 platform Malibu, a Blazer family of vehicles including the current blazer, a Colorado based Trailblazer and a Silverado based Tahoe Blazer, taking place of the current Tahoe while that name would cover what is now known as the Suburban (which, as I mentioned above, would go to GMC) a redesigned Colorado, putting it more in line with the styling of the Chevy 1500 would be in order and the Chevy 1500 needs to get a complete interior makeover (a modern interpretation of the 90-98 interior would work perfectly thank you) and the trim levels need to be restructured (Z66, Z71 4×4, SS, Cheyenne-10 and Deluxe are all that’s needed for the Silverado. Chevrolet really doesn’t need much else in it’s lineup. As far as Cadillac is concerned, the Corvette, the El-Miraj, the CT4, CT5, CT6, an Escala VSS-R crossover/ premium ultra high performance crossover and a completely revised Escalade are all Caddy really needs.
Another thing Chevrolet needs to do is do some tweaking of their V8 small block lineup. Gasoline engines need to be as followed 5.4L (327ci), 5.7L (350ci), 6.5L (396ci) and 7.0L (427ci) the Duramax diesel should come in at 7.5L (454ci) and that’s it. The base model Chevrolet cars should receive the 2.7L turbo (cars only) while the smaller SUV lineup should receive either the 400hp 3.0L Twin turbo or a V6 turbo diesel while everything else in the Chevrolet lineup should receive a V8 of one sort or another. Like I said, Buick would be full electric/ electric hybrid, Pontiac would receive either the 3.0L twin Turbo V6 or any of the above V8 engines, Cadillac would keep the 3.6L twin turbo upgraded to 475hp/500tq along with the blackwing engines, ultra high performance hybrid powertrain systems and hyper electric performance powertrains. no front wheel drive nonsense or anything like that, everything would be rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, 4×4 or electric AWD. Best lineup and a car for every niche. Boom, done!
Yes under GMC but it replaces nothing. This is a line that would be under the GMC room but it would be a premium line.
Pontiac is dead and not coming back. The car segment is dying and they are not adding new cars.
As for engine they are not adding token displacement sizes for marketing. They have what they have now for economy and due to specific displacements have better harmonica and better NHV qualities.
As for the other bits and pieces like a TTv6 in a Canyon. There are just too few buyers at the price point they have to charge. I would love a truck like this but I will not pay over $50k to get it. Yes it would be more than that.
Might also note the production numbers of the first. They failed to sell that many and that is why there was not a second gen.
Why?
That is the real question when anyone talks about bringing back Hummer. Let’s face it, doing this wouldn’t be any different really than Cadillac bringing back names like Fleetwood, DeVille, Seville, etc. Although I’d love it if Cadillac did bring back those names, it’s not the right decision. Give Caddy real names, yes. But create names that will be good and keep them forever! And just like that, the Hummer coming back probably gives some people the same “feelings” I have about old Caddy names, but it’s not the right thing.
What makes sense? GMC must be the brand that takes on Jeep and others. They already do for the most part, but not directly against the Wrangler or Renegade (and now the Gladiator). Instead of investing so much to bring back Hummer, GM would be better to invest a lot less but do it with a real GMC Wrangler if you will along with a smaller GMC to take on the Renegade. Otherwise, GMC already has the rest covered. Bringing back the Hummer will only cannibalize sales from GMC, Chevy and Buick.
GM doesn’t seem to be able to manage four brands, let alone adding Hummer back in. They dropped Hummer (for whatever reasons) and if they bring it back, they would look like fools that don’t know what they’re doing! Let them give the products to GMC and better support the other brands that they have now.
I mean, I’d much rather Pontiac be revived and turned into the “New Excitement Division” with EV sports cars. Imagine a Tesla fighter Bonneville. Or, don’t use any old nameplates and be creative, something new that isn’t an acronym.
“The new, Hummer Electric”. Sounds like a vacuum cleaner, or, a vibrator.
Both clean fun, I guess!
If you bring back Hummer I’ll will be one of the first in line.
This maybe the reason GM decided to use the Blazer name.
Think they should use PHEV if they bring it back. I don’t want to be in the bushes for days and my truck won’t start because the battery’s drained.
Homer Simpson needs to be the new spokesperson for Hummer.
Any cartoon character would be a slap-in-the-face model!
Yes, $500k Hemi Roadrunners at auctions, such a joke…….?
If you think a cartoon creation is a good spokes-whatever; Then they would be “making a stigmatic call about every: Van; commercial auto; suv; ALL mopar rig’s currently built & being stigmatic about every heavy person”!
So: bubba; think twice about that comment!
I would love to see that new Hummer . I do own one and I really love it . I had a lots of cars but I really like the Hummer H2 . I would go for that new one for sure . ?
I bought a 2006 H2 and LOVED that vehicle. The only reason we sold it was because we had a second child and my wife had difficulty getting them in and out because of the height. If GM brought the H2 back I would buy one is a second, however, if they insist on making it electric they can keep it. No thanks. GM needs to have the backbone to create a vehicle that some people are going to hate but that they can sell a ton of. That vehicle can be the new, improved H2 but they will bow down to the enviro nuts and ruin it. Idiots.