One of the very few spaces General Motors doesn’t occupy is the off-road focused, boxy SUV market, which in North America at least is dominated by the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.
While it has been explicit that its latest concept isn’t intended for production, General Motors has celebrated the opening of its new Advanced Design Pasadena studio with the release of the GMC Hummer X SUV.
Said to be “a testbed for new technologies, new aesthetics and new ways to build community around adventure, all centered around sustainability”, the concept previews a rock-crawling SUV built on a modular platform.
With a body that screams Wrangler and Bronco rival but with all the hallmarks of the GMC Hummer, the concept features 18-inch beadlock wheels with 37-inch tyres, Multimatic shocks, removable wheel-arch flares, and underbody protection as just a handful of its modular features.
Measuring 4783mm long, 2032mm wide and 1853mm tall on a 2946mm wheelbase, the concept is actually shorter overall, wider and slightly higher than a five-door Jeep Wrangler, while its wheelbase also has some distance removed.
Its off-road credentials are impressive too, with 334mm of ground clearance, a 44-degree approach angle, 46-degree departure angle, and 30.9-degree breakover angle.
Despite GM saying the Hummer X SUV is just a design study, there are hints GMC will come to market with a V8-powered rival to the aforementioned Wrangler and Bronco.
As reported by specialist publication GM Authority, the carmaker could revive the GMC Jimmy nameplate for a body-on-frame SUV, having previously planned to resurrect the Jimmy in the late 2010s before ultimately cancelling the project towards the end of 2019.
Insiders have reportedly said a V8 Jimmy is well and truly in the mix, especially in the wake of the car giant rolling out the first of its sixth-generation small-block V8s in the Corvette, off the back of investing billions into production of the engine.
A pickup version called the GMC Hummer X Truck was also revealed, potentially hinting at a rival to the Jeep Gladiator, with larger dimensions of 5265mm long, 2032mm wide, 1854mm tall and with a 3319mm wheelbase.
As a more street-focused concept, the Hummer X Truck features 22-inch aluminium wheels with 35-inch tyres.
“Every great concept starts with a belief. Ours was this: the courage to get lost leads us to new discoveries,” said outgoing GM Advanced Design Pasadena studio director, Brian Smith.
“The team rallied around a working mantra of ‘Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints,’ and let that philosophy guide every decision. That’s not just a tagline – it’s the design brief.”
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