General Motors might sell its forthcoming GMC Hummer EV in New Zealand. No official statement or announcement has been made to that effect, our friends at HummerNation.com have dug up a trademark application for “GMC” with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.
The application was filed on November 24th and is assigned the serial number 1164868. The intended goods and services category mentioned is “Motor land vehicles”.
The filing of the trademark application does not guarantee exports of the Hummer EV to New Zealand, but if GM intended to sell any of the other GMC products there, it would presumably already be doing so. In fact, GMC has never had a market presence in New Zealand, though the Hummer H3 was sold there in the days when Hummer was a standalone brand, as opposed to a GMC model like the new Hummer EV. Units of the H3 destined for New Zealand were built at the GM Struandale plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, which also produced H3s for other right-hand drive markets such as the U.K.
A similar trademark application has yet to come up in Australia, but it seems reasonable that the Hummer EV would be sold there too, since Australia has around five times the population of New Zealand.
GM’s presence in Oceania has had an interesting and at times tumultuous history. The General bought Australian Holden in 1926, which had started out as a saddlery business in 1856 and moved into building bodies for other car manufacturers. A company later to be named Holden New Zealand was established in the same year as General Motors New Zealand Limited. The first Holden-designed car, launched in 1948, was the 48-215, though this was usually referred to simply as “the Holden”.
Over the years, Holden became a force to be reckoned with in Australia and New Zealand with the likes of the Commodore, which was the region’s best-selling vehicle. The brand then gradually began to lose its luster and associated dominant position due to a series of missteps, including an ill-fated attempt to launch Opel in the region. In 2017, GM abandoned local production of Holden vehicles in Australia, transforming the division into a sales company and parts distribution operations for imported GM vehicles.
2017 Holden Commodore Limited Edition Models
In 2020, GM announced that it will mothball the Holden marque entirely. GM now operates in both Australia and New Zealand as GM Special Vehicles, or GMSV. As the name implies, the unit specializes in offering speciality models such as the Silverado pickup truck and C8 Corvette mid-engine sports car. A potential launch of the GMC Hummer EV in New Zealand and/or Australia might very well be part of a plan to broaden that portfolio.
Additionally, offering the Hummer EV in the region could potentially indicate that the battery electric supertruck is capable of a right-hand-drive configuration, or that GM plans on converting it to right-hand-drive. Neither option has been announced as of this writing.
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Comments
No chance of it coming to Australia. The government has just introduced a road tax which taxes EVs at a higher effective rate than petrol vehicles.
because they can’t get a fuel tax out of them.
They will sell it anywhere globally feasible. ChangingbtonRight hand drive is much cheaper and easier here.
Not sure what you mean. There is absolutely nothing easy or cheap about converting a left hand drive vehicle to a right hand drive one. The move being written about here seems to represent a change in strategy, where GM sells vehicles globally instead of in a few select markets like it’s doing currently.
Well nothing up is cheap but it is much easier to design an electric.
One of the greatest challenges is to fit things around the engine and pother parts in the engine compartment.
In stalling a new dash and steering rack is not difficult at the factory.
The greatest challenge is having enough market to make a RHD version worth the investment in parts.
Now converting an ICE or a model already built can get crazy..
I deal with a number of people down under who made the conversions after the fact and some are down right crazy priced.
The RHD version of the GMC Acadia has been sold in NZ and Australia under the Holden brand. The RHD version of the Corvette is due to be sold here by HSV.
That’s correct. To GMA’s point, there has never been a GMC branded model sold in NZ or Aus. that’s what makes this interesting. Don’t miss the forest for the trees.
They will no longer sell vehicles rebranded as Holden. Any vehicles sold in Australia or New Zealand will almost certainly be sold under their original brand. We know the Corvette will be sold as a Chevrolet Corvette. Any vehicle made in RHD can economically be sold in Australasia. Any LHD vehicle needs to be converted at significant cost, resulting in low demand. The Silverado is sold on that basis in low volumes. The key question is will the Hummer be made in RHD at the factory, for RHD markets in UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand? If not it’s safe to assume they will sell other high margin GMC trucks and SUVs, made RHD from the factory. Currently only Acadia fits that spec.
I feel much of what is blocking the trees is just what GM has yet to announce.
The EV models are the path to GM expanding global again. Anyplace any of these models are deemed practical to sell they will enter that market.
Just doing EV in America is not enough and China still would not be enough.
GM will enter Europe again with these models as with the EU rules EV is the future. This is why Tesla is trying to get there now.
GM has only given us a small part of their plans so far.
They should and will want to. I foresee the UK growing a set then making big trade agreements with all of the common wealth nations. I could see the USA being invited into this bloc.
Holden dealers in Australia are gone and not many have been replaced by GMSV. Good luck selling these in Australia when more people now are buying Asian cars.