Deliveries for one of the world’s most anticipated new electric vehicles, the GMC Hummer Edition 1 pickup truck (known as a ute in Australia), are reportedly about to begin in December in the United States.
In a conference call with US media last week, General Motors executive Duncan Aldred told reporters that deliveries of the Hummer EV Edition 1 – the limited edition all-electric pickup truck/utility vehicle – will begin in December, marking a very Merry Christmas for some lucky US customers.
Pre-production of the Edition 1 Hummer EV was announced earlier this month, following a year on from the original launch of the Hummer “super truck”.
Paired with the original October 2020 announcement, pre-orders for the Hummer EV Edition 1 gave a special few the opportunity to be first in line – as long as they were willing to pay $US112,000, or around $A160,000.
And, though the limited-edition model is the company’s top of the line Hummer EV model, it nevertheless comes with a reduced range of only 529-kilometres – as compared to the 560-kilometres expected for subsequent models.
These arguably more attractive models will be released in descending order of price from late-2022 through to late-2024, starting with the Hummer EV3X for $US99,995 ($A141,525 converted), to a mid-range Hummer EV2X for $US89,995 ($A127,372 converted), down to the “entry level” Hummer EV2 for $US79,995 ($A113,219 converted).
Meanwhile, the Hummer EV SUV which was unveiled back in April is set to enter production in early 2023 with first delivery of its own limited-edition models due for later that year.
GMC’s Hummer pickup will join a quickly developing emerging electric pick-up truck market alongside the Rivian R1T and will gain a head start on future rivals such as the Ford F-150 Lightning, Tesla Cybertruck, and Chevrolet Silverado EV, all of which are expected to be released in the next few years.
Rivian alone boasts North American pre-orders of approximately 55,400 for its R1T electric ute and R1S electric SUV, a waiting list which already stretches out to late-2023 and pushes back any future Australian launch out to 2024 at the earliest.
Excitement for the electric pick-up market is so high, right now, that Rivian’s recent IPO saw it quickly become one of the most valuable carmakers on the Nasdaq stock exchange, with a closing day valuation just shy of $US100 billion.
GMC’s Hummer, though, is looking to compete, and earlier this month the company unveiled nearly 200 optional accessories available for its upcoming electric Hummer models – enough to put the pin in anyone’s belief that electric vehicles will ruin our weekends.