GM plans to revive Hummer, but as an electric vehicle

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D E T ROI T • General Motors Co. is moving forward with plans to revive its polarizing Hummer brand, this time as an electric truck and possibly SUV, instead of an emblem of gasoline consumption, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Detroit automaker plans to debut a pickup around 2022 with boxy styling cues reminiscent of the Hummers of yore, one of the people said. GM is considering selling the battery- powered truck in existing dealerships under the marketing name “Hummer by GMC,” the people said.

If the company follows through with that plan, it would address the two biggest problems that doomed Hummer 10 years ago: its gas- guzzling image and its costly network of standalone showrooms. GMC is a division of GM that sells SUVs, trucks and vans.

“GM’S move is interesting because there could be a huge cohort of people that will now grow up associating GMC with being environmentally friendly,” said George Augustaitis, director of industry analytics at Cargurus. com, a car- shopping and research site.

Bloomberg first reported in June that GM was mulling the Hummer brand’s return as a line of electric vehicles. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Friday that the automaker has decided to move forward with the plan.

GM bought the Hummer brand in 1998 and sales of the vehicle peaked in 2006 before declining precipitously at the end of that decade as gasoline prices soared, hurting demand for the 10- miles- per- gallon Hummer H2. The company halted sales in 2010.

Hummer’s second wind is par t GM’S US$ 3 billion investment in its Detroit- Hamtramck factory in Michigan.