GM might bring back Hummer as electric vehicle, negotiations reveal

The UAW strike of GM workers is interestingly making the automaker reveal some of its plans for electrification as part of the negotiations with the union.

One interesting thing to come out is that GM might revive the Hummer brand with electric vehicles.

The Union of Auto Workers (UAW) has been protesting GM’s previously announced plans to close several factories and letting thousands of employees go.

Last month, they launched a strike, which is still ongoing.

We have learned that GM included the production of electric pickup trucks and battery cells as part of its offer to the union workers.

Now Reuters reports that the Hummer brand might even be part of GM’s electrification plans:

“General Motors plans to build a new family of premium electric pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant beginning in late 2021, possibly reviving the imposing Hummer brand on some of them, several people familiar with the plans said.”

The automaker is reportedly working on an electric platform called ‘BT1’ that will support large premium pickup trucks and SUVs.

In several previous comments over the last year, GM has been tentatively talking about building electric pickup trucks.

As part of the offer, they plan to build the vehicles at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, which is where GM currently produces the Cadillac CT6 and the Chevrolet Impala, but the automaker announced earlier this year that it doesn’t have any vehicle allocation starting in 2020.

Interestingly, the former factory where Hummers were being produced in Indiana has been bought by a company looking to produce electric vehicles at the plant.

We have also already seen an all-electric Hummer converted by Kreisel for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Electrek’s Take

It’s so weird to me that GM’s plans to produce electric vehicles are being revealed as part of their negotiations with their union workers.

However, the plans look interesting.

It sounds like GM is doing something similar to what Tesla did and will start with more premium electric vehicles for their first major dedicated and high volume EV platform.

Of course, they already have the Bolt EV, which is not really premium, but the vehicle is heavily dependent on LG parts and lower volume. I don’t count it as GM’s “all-in with EVs” strategy.

It worked for Tesla, but GM is definitely coming late and they still need to close a deal with UAW.

The sooner the better since the strike has already cost GM billions of dollars.

How confident do you feel about how serious GM is about EVs?