GMSV reveals its plans for the new Hummer

The GMC Hummer SUV won’t be headed to Australia anytime soon

Never say never, but not now.

That’s the verdict on the local chances of the GMC Hummer, despite General Motors’ expanding presences in Australia. The GMC brand is joining Chevrolet and the upcoming Cadillac as part of an expanded GM Specialty Vehicles roster down under.

The Yukon SUV will be GMC’s initial offering, but the arrival of the brand immediately begged the question about other GMC options, which included the electric Hummer SUV and ute.

Unfortunately, GM Australia chief, Jess Bala, ruled it out in the short-term, but didn’t rule it out definitively. In fact, she confirmed the American auto giant had already considered the Hummer for Australia.

“Not at the moment,” Bala told Torquecafe. “I mean, we’ve talked about it. We’ve looked at it. It really comes down to what opportunity presents itself for us. So the Hummer is not built in right-hand drive, so it would be a Promoso conversion for us, which obviously has price and cost implications.”

Promoso is the division of Walkinshaw Automotive Group that converts the Silverado and now Yukon to right-hand drive. The Yukon sits on the same ladder-frame chassis as the Silverado range, but the Hummer is built on GM’s Ultium electric vehicle platform, meaning the process of conversion would be unique and therefore more costly.

“So it’s really going to come down to what we think is the best offering for our customers and our priorities to be able to do that,” Bala added. “So at the moment, no, we don’t have any plans to bring the Hummer in, but we’ll always keep assessing as our market here evolves. I mean, we know we’re the most saturated market in the world, and customer needs are shifting and constantly changing. So if that opportunity shows itself as the right thing for us to look at we’ll look at it again.”

2025 GMC Yukon Denali will be on sale locally soon

That doesn’t mean the Yukon Denali, which is the luxury grade of the big SUV, will be the only model from the GMC range to be offered in Australia. Bala insisted it’s early days, but left open the possibilities that the GMC range will expand in the coming years.

“We’re always looking at what the options are and we’ll continue to do that on a daily basis,” she said. “Obviously by bringing Yukon out and the GMC brand it opens that up a little bit earlier for us, but it’s always going to be about the right product at the right time for the customer need that we’re looking at.”

She added: “Yeah, it’s definitely an opportunity. We see it as a great opportunity. We wouldn’t bring it in if we didn’t think it was going to be successful.

“But you’re right, that whole top end of sort of a range of segments, whether it be truck, large SUV, has expanded with the introduction of American models, which is why this is just the perfect opportunity and time to bring in something so unique to the industry.”

In the immediate future, Bala is confident that choosing the luxury-focused Denali is the right choice to introduce the Yukon, over the more rugged, off-road biased AT4 and AT4X variants available in the USA.

“You’ve got capability and luxury and tech and features at the same time,” she said. “So you can still do your camping, your towing, caravaning, boating, all those sorts of things with that car, but still have the luxury if you want it to be your commuter, you know, family vehicle during the week as well.”