Hummer concept guns for Jeep Wrangler

David Phillips / The Detroit News

Another Hummer is on the way, and this one is gunning for the Jeep Wrangler.

General Motors Corp. today released sketches of several new Hummer concepts which will serve as the inspiration for the Hummer HX concept vehicle to be shown at the North American International Auto Show in January.
The sketches are the work of three new GM designers - David Rojas, Min Young Kang and Robert Jablonski. All three designers are recent graduates of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and their first GM assignment was to provide a vision for the future of off-road vehicles.

GM, which acquired the Hummer name from AM General Corp. in 1999, has long planned to offer a smaller, more fuel-efficient and affordable Hummer to draw younger buyers. Despite the expansion of the Hummer franchise to three basic models in recent years, overall demand has softened because of the spike in gas prices. Hummer's U.S. sales are off 22 percent this year.

In a related announcement, GM will start selling Hummer in Japan next spring to further expand the brand outside the United States with a smaller, more varied and more fuel efficient lineup.
The iconic Wrangler -- a throw-back to the original ****** Army vehicle - has been a perennial best-seller for Jeep, and with its open-top has few competitors in the U.S. market. With the introduction of a four-door Wrangler model, U.S. sales have soared 54 percent this year to more than 110,000.

By tapping its newest designers, GM hopes to broaden Hummer's appeal beyond its original, affluent customer base.
"Hummer appeals to young people globally and served as a perfect first assignment for our newest talent," said Ed Welburn, vice president of global design and product planning for GM.
The three designers were given limited direction by Carl Zipfel, an ex-professional motocross racer and director of the Hummer design studio, GM said.

After three months of sketching and sculpting theme work for the new Hummer concept, each designer had the opportunity to present scale clay models to Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman in charge of global product development, and Welburn, who chose which design would ultimately become the HX concept.
Lutz and Welburn are fond of making GM designers engage in "sketch-offs" to come up with more compelling designs across the automaker's brand lineup.

In its final concept form, GM said the Hummer HX, capable of running on E-85 ethanol, will provide open-air driving via a pair of removable roof panels above the driver and front passenger, as well as a removable rear roof assembly, allowing drivers to quickly convert from a closed vehicle to an open air SUT. It also features a slant back assembly removable doors and fender flairs.

Link to story with pictures: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...DATE/712100446

 

well, being that they say the final concept will have a slant back and fender flares, I assume the picture of the blue one is the one that won? If so.....YUCK!!!! Looks like an FJ with a slant back..[:'(][:'(]

 

I strongly DISAGREE with you IMPY.......

You dissapoint me, That's it I have had it, I want my ROTM nomination with drawn for IMPY right now!!!! lol

 

This is only the third thread we have had about the article. I will wait and see.
A smaller E85 burnin lower priced Hummer has great potential, but who knows what it will end up like? Might look like one of them golf cart Hummers things. []

 

looking at the pic. of the blue one..you can't see an Fj there?!? The front passenger window area looks identical to the current FJ...I did the fastback look, but the FJ side windows need to get changed.

 

the red one is kinda funny.....it's drawn in an off-road setting but the truck has racing slicks on it...LOL...guess the artist didn't know how to draw tire treads

 

yea, I have to agree with IK. the pics do look a little FJ. But I'll hold my judgement till I see it in person.

 

I would like to see what GM's version of "affordable" means considering one of Hummer's trademarks is being too expensive for most middle to lower income families to own [&:]

And second, I would like to see ImportKiller draw/draft/create a sketch of what HE thinks the HX should look like, because he will no doubt have a problem with the looks no matter WHAT it looks like

As for it looking like the FJ, MAYBBEEE, but the FJ is not a slantback, it's just a halfassbackwards chasis-cracking excuse for an off-road vehicle.

 

I know that they are just sketches but one of the concepts appearsto show independant rear suspension. Is it possible to make a compact SUV with fully independant suspension that is fun or at leastvery capabletocrawl off-road?

I've done a lot of off roadingwith the old version M-Class (it already had fully independent suspension).It was always a traction controlled exercise of tippingside to side and lifting and dropping tires. Kind of like a long series of stuck, hop, move, tip, bounce, stuck, hop, move, tip,bounce... ...not really a lot of fun compared tocrawling the Grand Cherokee thatalwayssmoothly rolled up and over the same obsticals.

 

Glad to see they are still investing in the brand. Not real crazy about any of the sketches but they are a long way from completed designs so I will withhold judgement also.