What If... GMC Decided to Make a More Compact Version of the Hummer EV Truck?

In today’s automotive landscape, you’d best forget all about Hummer’s H-series models and make your peace with their new EVs, which are available in pickup and SUV form. I’m using the term “available” loosely here since the GMC Hummer EV SUV won’t hit the streets until sometime next year.

Now, while it’s a little too soon to talk expansion, the Hummer EV range could certainly use a more reasonably sized and reasonably priced model, but before we talk hypotheticals, let’s look back at the early days of the H1 and see how it all started.

The first-gen Hummer was manufactured by AM General, using the M998 Humvee as a blueprint. It wasn’t until 1999 that GM bought the naming rights and decided to call it the H1. This thing pretty much sold itself, especially once people saw images from Operation Desert Storm. Meanwhile, iconic actor Arnold Schwarzenegger did a great job promoting the vehicle too.

Make no mistake, the H1 was a beast. Almost perfect for tackling rough terrain, at least by mid-90s standards.

Then came the H2, which went into production in the early 2000s, based on a modified GMC Sierra 2500HD chassis. The H2 was a big hit among pro athletes and hip hop artists, and unlike the H1, it came with all the interior amenities one might expect to find in a large SUV – tri-zone climate controls, leather upholstery, cruise control, heated front and rear seats (also power-adjustable), a BOSE sound system, and lots more.

A lot of people thought this was a cool SUV back in the day, but let’s just say that time wasn’t very kind to the H2. Even pop culture spoke up a few years back, in season 2 of Better Call Saul, one of the most critically acclaimed TV series of our era. The H2 was heavily ridiculed in one of the episodes, with one character claiming that it looked like “a school bus for 6-year-old pimps.”

To be fair, it was yellow with red flames on it, so yeah, it looked pretty stupid.

Last and maybe even least, the H3, which came out in 2005 and even yours truly got to review it in 2007. I remember it being yellow, ironically, and I think it was powered by a 3.7-liter gasoline unit mated to a four-speed automatic. By European standards, the H3 was gigantic, and driving it around narrow roads was fun, especially with all the heads it kept turning. However, the driving experience got a bit old after a few days and, by the way, the build quality wasn’t all that good – it had some ridiculously cheap plastics inside.

That being said, the H3 did well in terms of sales (it outsold the H2), but the plug was eventually pulled in 2010, when GM announced that it would shut down Hummer altogether.

Fast forward to 2020 and Hummer is yet again alive and well, having embraced battery-electric power and spawning two variants: the GMC Hummer EV and Hummer EV SUV. Both are, of course, full-size flagship models, which means there’s room for something a little smaller in the range, and while it may never come to pass, we still thought it would be fun to show you these exclusive renderings of a more compact Hummer EV truck variant.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that the wheelbase is shorter, and so is the truck bed. Meanwhile, neither the front or the rear wheel arches are as pronounced as with the real vehicle, the mirrors are different, and the rear doors are smaller overall.

You also can’t take the roof off, which makes perfect sense – a more compact Hummer EV would need to be less flashy. Should it be able to still crabwalk, though? Not sure, but it definitely wouldn’t have a total system output of 1,000 hp (or anywhere near that).

Speaking of performance, I could see this thing with a dual motor system, good for about 600 hp and 250+ miles of range. It would certainly be quick enough.

All things considered, unless they felt like a smaller model would somehow dilute the brand, I think that a more compact fully electric truck would sell very well under the GMC Hummer EV umbrella.