The GMC Hummer has had an interesting evolution by anyone’s standards. What started as a gas guzzling monster SUV back in the 1990s and early aughts fell victim to the economic crunch and high gas prices of the Great Recession. But a decade or so after killing the model, GMC revealed that it would have new life in the form of an all-electric.
That said, a lot has changed since the 2020 announcement, and as automakers have expanded their electric portfolios, they’ve just as quickly scaled them back. And while GMC had plans for several trims of the Hummer – including an entry version called the EV2 that was due out this spring – this is reportedly being adjusted, with GM Authority reporting the $86,000 base model is no longer in the works.
This results in the Hummer’s lowest price trim starting at a whopping $98,000.
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Still, Auto Evolution cites the sales support – with more than 1,600 Hummer orders on the books for Q1, an 83,300% increase from the same period last year.
GM has not commented on whether the EV2 might have life in a future model year, but for now this lower-priced-but-still-pricey version is on ice. What’s not are even more expensive Hummer trims, including the EV3X Omega Edition Pickup, which starts north of $150k.
So, does this recent change in GM’s portfolio align with a larger shift – or fly in the face of it?
Perhaps the latter: Some recent analysis of automotive sales trends does suggest that buyers may be experiencing some high price fatigue. As Bloomberg pointed out earlier this month, sales of pickups – the high profit engine for many Detroit automakers – showed pronounced weakness in Q1 for Stellantis, Ford and GM. What’s replaced them? Higher sales of smaller and more affordable vehicles. Bloomberg says the shift is “part of (a) broader shift to cheaper vehicles.”
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