General Motors is about to launch a line of electric pickups and SUVs. Some of them may come out under the Hummer brand. The release should begin at the end of 2021 at the company's plant in Detroit.
Called BT1, the program includes a $3 billion investment in GM's manufacturing site, Reuters has learned.
It is expected that General Motors may take a cue from Tesla, which started production with expensive models and only then moved on to more affordable ones.
The concern already has a serial Chevrolet Bolt electric car and a plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt. They are positioned as relatively affordable cars, but their sales are far from their intended goals.
The Hummer brand has several advantages for producing expensive electric SUVs. Firstly, this name is still on everyone's lips. Secondly, the appearance of an expensive Hammer will not be surprising for Americans. It is assumed that the debut model of the new series can cost $ 90-100 thousand, or even more.
The history of Hummer, we recall, ended in 2010. In 2009, against the backdrop of bankruptcy, GM announced the closure of the Hummer brand and its sale. In the autumn of the same year, a buyer was found: the Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. was going to buy the rights to the brand. However, the deal later fell through. The Americans made another attempt to at least get something out of the Hummer, but it was also unsuccessful.
By the way, third-party companies have repeatedly turned the original Hummer H1 into an electric car. For example, in 2017, the Austrian company Kreisel Electric built such an SUV specifically for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The car is equipped with 490 hp electric motors. Batteries with a capacity of 100 kWh provide a range of 300 km.
Electric Hummer will be part of GM's plan to electrify SUVs and pickups
