Hummer is going global with the H3.
Developed for markets around the world and built in South Africa, the H3 adds styling features, an all-new interior design and a 3.7-litre engine with, for the first time on a Hummer, a choice of manual or automatic transmissions for the full-time four-wheel drive system. A right-hand drive version will be available in summer 2007.
Smaller than the H2 behemoth, the H3 is powered by a GM Vortec 3.7-litre, inline five-cylinder engine with dual overhead camshafts and variable valve timing. It delivers 244bhp at 5,600 rpm and 242lb-ft of torque at 4,600 rpm.
The device uses an electronically controlled four-wheel drive system with traction control, an optional locking rear differential and StabiliTrak stability control as standard. The H3 can ford 407 mm deep water at 20 mph or 610 mm deep streams at 5 mph, and climb 407 mm vertical steps or rocks.
Off-road performance is helped by the “wheel at each corner” design giving a maximum approach angle of 37.5 degrees and maximum departure angle of 34.6 degrees. These approach and departure angles permit the H3 to drive into a hole and back out again, without getting hung up at the front or the rear.
It has an 11.3 metre turning circle, 216 mm ground clearance and maximum breakover angle of 23.5 degrees to allow it to clear large obstacles off-road.
Until recently, Hummer primarily focused on establishing a presence in North America. GM acquired the brand in late 1999 and since then Hummer sales have grown from around 1,000 vehicles per year in 2000 to more than 60,000 in 2005.
While all previous Hummer H3s have been assembled in GM's North American facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, the new international H3, intended for all markets outside of North America, is being assembled at the Struandale Assembly Facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The $100 million investment in the plant has been described as one of the most important milestones in the history of GM in South Africa.
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