Hummer is one of those automotive brand names that’s had some major ups and downs in its history, evolving from what was an adapted civilian version of a military vehicle in the early 1990s to a more traditional General Motors SUV and truck line in the 2000s and now, most recently, into an all-electric monster of a 4×4 SUV and pickup known as the Hummer EV.
While the original Hummer was built and developed by AM General before General Motors took over the marketing and distribution of brand in the late ’90s, this latest iteration of the Hummer is no longer its own standalone GM brand. It’s a submodel that’s built by General Motors and sold under the GMC brand at GMC dealerships.
While past Hummer models were built at a few different AM General and GM factories across the United States, all of the current Hummer EVs are built at GM’s Detroit/Hamtramck plant, which is also known as Factory Zero, because the plant has been tooled from the ground up for electric-vehicle production.
From the battlefield to the streets
The original civilian Hummer, which would later come to be known as the H1, was based on the AM General HMMWV, or Humvee as it was more commonly known. Upon the debut of the civilian version in 1992, AM General decided to use the name Hummer, which draws on the vehicle’s military underpinnings.
With the Hummer becoming a status symbol thanks to high-profile owners like Arnold Schwarzenegger, General Motors got in on the act, buying the Hummer name and marketing rights and planning a new brand around it. GM also began plans to add additional Hummer models to join the H1, which continued to be built by AM General for GM. The capable, but much more civilian-oriented Hummer H2 joined the lineup in 2002, followed by the smaller and less expensive Hummer H3 in 2006. This was also the final year that AM General built the original Hummer H1. At the height of power, Hummer dealerships could be recognized by their military-inspired, Quonset hut-like design.
It turns out, the entire Hummer brand wasn’t long for this world. Following the swift economic downturn of the late 2000s and the subsequent government bailout and restructuring of General Motors — not to mention climbing gas prices – Hummer joined Pontiac and Saturn on the list of brands that GM axed. GM shopped around the Hummer brand to interested parties, including Chinese companies, but a deal was never reached. The Hummer brand ceased operations in the spring of 2010.
Into the electric era
Fast forward less than 10 years, and rumors of a Hummer revival were flying hot and heavy. GM officially announced the name’s return in early 2020, this time as an all-electric pickup and SUV that wears GMC badging and will be sold as a sub-brand at GMC dealerships.
The first production Hummer EV, an Edition 1 model, rolled out of the Detroit/Hamtramck plant in December 2021, helping to christen GM’s new Factory Zero, which now produces not just the Hummer EV, but also other GM electric trucks such as the GMC Sierra EV, Chevy Silverado EV, and Cadillac Escalade IQ.
Available with three electric motors that can make a combined 1,000 horsepower in the top trim, the GMC Hummer EV is mechanically unlike any Hummer that came before it. And while it may be more of a party trick than something that sees a lot of real-world use, the Hummer EV’s ability to “crab walk” has also generated a lot of buzz. Sure, a massively heavy, massively powerful, and massively expensive GMC-branded Hummer might not fit the ideal image of a sustainable, environmentally conscious electric vehicle. But it’s hard to argue that the modern version hasn’t remained true to the Hummer name.
