What is a Hummer, anyway? Well, actually, it started as a military/utility vehicle produced by AM General. Hummer, nick-name for Humvee, nick-name for HMMWV, short for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, was first produced in 1984 and began to see widespread use during the Gulf War in 1991. The Hummer was sold globally and was heavily relied on for military and various utility applications. Much later on, the Hummer was released to the civilian market due to high demand.

In 1999, General Motors successfully negotiated marketing rights to the Hummer name and began formally calling the AM General produced Hummer the Hummer H1.

In 2002, production began on the Hummer H2. The H2 was a full-size SUV built using a combination of front and rear frame components from Chevy’s 2500 and 1500 line of pickup trucks. It’s design language reflected the original Hummer H1, however the H2 was an obvious departure from the original military-capable vehicle produced by AM General. While it mimicked some cosmetic features, this SUV was a road-focused car geared for high volume sales to civilian consumers. This vehicle was sold from 2003 through 2009 and a total of about 150,000 units were sold.

In 2006, General Motors begin selling the Hummer H3 which was a smaller variant of the Hummer H2. The H3 sold roughly another 150,000 units in its 5 year run from 2005-2009.

Rumors have been swirling now for what seems like years on the debut of the all new, all electric Hummer from General Motors - badged by way of GMC. And it was finally unveiled. To read full details on the new Hummer, check it out at Car and Driver https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a34412909/2022-gmc-hummer-ev-revealed/

Long story short: It’s awesome. It HUGE. It’s fast. It’s gorgeous. It’s full of new and cool technology. It’s got 1000 HP and rumored to have around 1000 lb-ft of real world torque (the 11,500 lb-ft of torque mentioned during the reveal is not using the same context the rest of the automotive world uses when talking about torque - check out Engineering Explained for more on that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkM0L4_W_pM).

BUT, I actually think it’s a big let down. And here’s why. The Hummer “you can get now” is a limited edition version that starts at $112,595 according to General Motors (look much higher after options). The website already shows “Reservations Full” for that version. The “cheap” one, which is called the Hummer EV2, starts at $79,995. But here’s the catch - it’s not available until Spring of 2024! 2024!! There are two more versions coming as well - the EV2X ($89,995, coming Spring 2023) and the EV3X ($99,995, coming Spring 2022).

While it’s cool to see manufacturers making million dollar electric cars - it is, in my opinion, way off target. The name of the game right now is bringing full electric cars, SUV’s and pickup truck’s to the consumer market at reasonably affordable prices. In a week from now, nobody will care that General Motors spent 5 years making an unattainable Hummer EV. It’s cool. It’ll attract attention at a local cars and coffee, and it’ll make a great poster for 10 year old kids to hang on their walls. But it’s irrelevant to the marketplace right now.

Even Tesla knows this. Don’t you think Tesla could make a string of $100,000-150,000 cars and be cool too? Of course. But the real “cool factor” here is making a car everybody can buy.

If General Motors released this “first edition” Hummer for $112,000, but then promised a $60,000 version by next summer, I would be fully on board.

There’s nothing special when you accomplish a super-expensive electric vehicle. The specialty and cool factor comes when you can make an EV that is affordable.