We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry last year when General Motors announced that it would return to the sharp end of giant car selling with the GMC Hummer EV. After all, the brand had been so defunct as to be long-running South Park joke (‘every Hummer comes with a free Segway’). But the brand has risen Phoenix-like from the ashes of its Schwarzenegger-in-a-Humvee identity crisis, courtesy of wholesale electrification and North America’s weakness for super-sized SUVs.
And now it’s over here. Over here in Clive Sutton’s showroom, specifically. In 1000hp Edition 1 format. Doubtless many strings and no little money were involved in delivering the car to St John’s Wood: in case you hadn’t heard, demand far outstrips supply in the States, and dealers over there are famously not obliged to abide by the price the manufacturer sets. Consequently, high-spec versions of the Hummer - which is not being built at a terrific rate anyway - are reputedly changing hands for more than $200k.
As you might expect, that does not make the new model an affordable option in the UK. The retailer has declined to put a price on the PH advert, although the associated promotional material suggests it is likely to cost its first British owner as much as £320k. Clearly, that is a startling amount of money. But, at 2m high, 2.34m wide and 5.5m long, the Hummer EV is a startling car. ‘The colossal Hummer EV guarantees presence wherever it goes,’ notes the bumf, and for once that isn’t an overstatement.
Quite what passersby make of your colossal presence is another matter. But no Hummer was ever bought by a shrinking violet (despite what Better Call Saul says), and Clive Sutton reckons you can count on the ‘manoeuvrability of a much smaller vehicle’ thanks to the optional ‘Crabwalk’ system that allows the car to move diagonally thanks to rear-wheel steering - although quite how that helps with width restrictions and parking spaces, we’re not sure.
What you will get is plenty of performance. Despite its size (or, indeed, because of it in a battery-capacity sense) the tri-motor truck will hit 60mph in a faintly absurd 3.3 seconds - and with 1,200lb ft of torque on tap, it probably gets between speeds at a frightening rate, too. Height adjustable air suspension ought to make it hugely capable off-road - assuming you don’t sink up to the axles - and, unsurprisingly, you can expect interior space to be ample. Somewhat more surprisingly, the Hummer is rated to go 350 miles between charges, which is very decent indeed.
“As soon as the GMC Hummer EV was announced our customers have been desperate to see the model in the UK! Now that we have imported the first one, we anticipate orders outstripping supply as buyers clamour to be among the first in Europe to own this electric supertruck,” explained Clive Sutton. So there we go - clamouring. If you want to be the first over the line, get clicking. If you have other instincts, get typing.
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