General Motors is thinking about bringing back the Hummer but as an electric SUV.

GM has big plans to get with an electric future. As gasoline prices rise and global emissions regulations become ever stricter, electric powertrains are seen by most carmakers as the only way to stay in business.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise to hear that GM is thinking about bringing back the Hummer to spearhead their upcoming electric brands.

According to sources speaking to Bloomberg, General Motors designers are considering the oft-maligned Hummer as a potential nameplate for one of their upcoming electric vehicle platforms. This is a bizarre choice of car as the Hummer was--in every incarnation--a horribly inefficient and pollutive SUV, which seems to go against the marketing of an electric SUV.

Selling an electric SUV on the reputation of a car famous for turning gasoline into CO2 doesn’t seem like a smart move, but then, we’re not working in GM’s marketing department.

GM President Mark Reuss was also skeptical when asked about it at a press conference on June 12th. “I love Hummer,” he said. “I’m not sure. We’re looking at everything.”

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Sources describe the Hummer is being used as a “what if” exercise for planning GM’s next generation of electric vehicles, which means it’s entirely possible that it will never see the light of day. However, GM will need to make some progress on the electric vehicle front if they plan to keep their promise of making 20 new EVs by the year 2023.

H3 Hummer
via Wikimedia

Our current understanding is that GM has two electric vehicle platforms under development. The first is for smaller vehicles such as compact cars up to mid-size crossovers and SUVs. The second is for full-size vehicles such as SUVs and pickups. The platforms are said to be so flexible that GM would be able to make an entire fleet using only just these two.

It’s also possible that GM could use the Hummer nameplate as an electric competitor to the Rivian R1S or even the non-electric Jeep Wrangler. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on this to see which way it might go.

NEXT: General Motors Investing In Yet More Pickup Production To Take On Ford