2001 Hummer H1 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

AM General to offer civilian Humvee kit car

For anyone feeling nostalgic about the passing of the Hummer brand, or the actual wartime vehicle that inspired it, now is your chance to own a version of the original HMMWV, albeit without an engine.
After a 12-year hiatus from the civilian vehicle market, AM General is reportedly set to offer a kit-car of the C-Series Humvee. The kit will conform to U.S. government regulations and has been made possible by a deal with General Motors.
The kit costs $59,000 - and you still need an engine. A likely favorite would be a Duramax Diesel V8 and Allison transmission combination, as was found on the H1 Alpha. AM General estimates that an owner could buy the kit Humvee and outfit a powerplant and transmission for $75,000. Not bad, considering that H1 Alpha has an MSRP of $140,000 in 2005.

GMC's electric Hummer could someday serve alongside the Humvee in the U.S. Army

Every civilian Hummer model traces its roots to AM General's Humvee, which made its combat debut when the United States invaded Panama in 1989. Fast forward to the 2020s, and the tables have turned. The born-again Hummer that will arrive with an electric powertrain and a GMC emblem could spawn a military-spec truck. "[The upcoming Hummer] is a full-size truck with 400 miles of range and 1,000 pound-feet of torque, it's a very highly capable vehicle. That could provide a great base platform for an electric vehicle to be used in the military context," said David Albritton, the president of General Motors Defense, in an interview with GM Authority. Although he didn't sketch out the Hummer's role in a battalion, its range, torque, and dimensions would theoretically make it well-suited to carrying soldiers, weapons, and/or gear like radio equipment. It wouldn't necessarily look like the production model (shown above in a preview image). General Motors Defense might use its basic platform and its powertrain technology to build a purpose-designed off-roader, like it did with the Colorado Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) it will soon begin manufacturing for the Army. The ISV shares 90% of its parts with the regular-production Chevrolet Colorado, but the two vehicles look nothing alike. Securing a contract with the American military is easier said than done, and Army officials haven't publicly expressed an interest in sending the upcoming Hummer into a war zone. We'll learn more about what a battle-ready electric truck could look like after the showroom-bound model makes its debut. In the meantime, Humvee production continues, and AM General introduced a comprehensively updated model named NXT 360 in 2018. Related Video:     Green GMC Hummer Truck Electric Military

GMC Hummer EV could have had the Chevrolet Avalanche's Midgate

One of the many rumors swirling around the GMC Hummer EV claimed the truck would resurrect the Midgate inaugurated by the original Chevrolet Avalanche. Although we now know there's no way to fully knock down the partition between the cab and the cargo box, the firm revealed the rumor wasn't entirely false. "There was [a Midgate] early on. We opted for the functionality of the drop glass in the back. With the package layout and things like that, it was not advantageous to pursue that one. And, the five-foot bed was kind of the industry standard in regards to price of entry in that segment," explained John Mack, the Hummer's exterior design management, during an interview with Muscle Car & Trucks. The Hummer will go on sale with a five-foot box, and it doesn't sound like a longer bed will be available, so a modern version of the Midgate would have made the model more versatile by giving users the ability to fold down the partition behind the rear seats to carry bulky items, like plywood and ATVs. It's a feature that would have inevitably made the truck more complicated to build, however, because it adds moving parts that need to be sealed. Hinges, seals, and latches in turn add weight, and complexity almost always invites high manufacturing costs. As an electric pickup built with newly-developed components, the Hummer already has enough of each. Motorists who need to carry something that's significantly longer than the cargo box aren't entirely out of luck. As Mack pointed out, the rear window drops into the partition, so owners will have the ability to haul surfboards, lumber, or anything else that's relatively long and reasonably thin by simply pushing a switch. Alternatively, the only thing limiting cargo space when the roof comes off is the sky — or, depending on where you live, bridges. Mack didn't reveal when the Midgate was dropped. GMC launched the Hummer project in April 2019, and it previously released early design sketches that show how the truck transitioned from a sketch to a prototype. As of writing, nothing suggests the Midgate will make a comeback in the near future on any member of the General Motors portfolio. It was introduced in 2001 on the first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, which went on sale in the United States for the 2002 model year. It later spread to Cadillac's luxed-up variant of the truck, the Escalade EXT, and to the short-lived GMC Envoy XUV.