GM unveiled its $US100,000 ($130,630) Hummer EV SUV over Easter weekend — a little early, if you ask me. The 830-horsepower SUV won’t be available until 2023, while the truck is set for sale later this year. Weirdly enough, the cheapest versions of both are not available until 2024. Reservations are underway, nonetheless.
The initial available models will be the Edition 1 Hummer EVs, which are, um, pricy. The Edition 1 truck starts at $US112,595 ($147,083), the SUV at $US105,595 ($137,939). At either of those prices, I would have to live in my Hummer EV if I bought one.
So, let’s take a look at the interior of the SUV to see what GM got right and wrong in this new, expensive electric Hummer. And here’s a longer video, with a little more footage than what was shown in the introductory teaser:
Yeah, yeah. We get it, GM. You love your CrabWalk and Watts to Freedom and Extract Mode, but all I care about is the cabin. There’s not a huge difference between the Hummer SUV’s interior and the truck’s. It really just comes down to the rear cargo area versus the bed. Oh, and the SUV has that cool frunk, too, just like the truck.
The other cool stuff we can see is in the console. The shifter looks nice, and so does the mode dial with its knurled ring. Most L-shaped shifters are comfortable, and its thumb rest looks good for getting a grip. I like this console! Also, it looks like the cupholders are underneath covers, which is tidy.
The armrest has a neat design, split into three sections. Outer sections are for arms, and the middle section looks perfectly proportioned for smartphones. I haven’t seen this before. Armrests usually have cubbies that span left to right, instead of front to back. This is a welcome change and a bit of inspired design from GM.
But I can’t say the same about that dashboard. There’s a lot here I don’t like. I’ll start with the bolted-on screen. It’s HUGE. Fine, whatever. Big screens are here to stay, but GM could have integrated this better.
It almost looks removable, and in keeping with my grievance about the price of this thing — which isn’t that far away from a modest house in South Texas — the infotainment screen looks like a wall mounted TV, smack dab in a living room.
Just underneath the screen, is a row of buttons. I counted 13 of them, and I can confidently say I’ll be lucky to press three of these without looking. It’s too homogenous; there’s little-to-no differentiation.
Physical controls, while great, should be better spaced and more distinct. At least there’s some dividing texture there.
The seats are fine. They look plush. They are more La-Z-Boy than Eames chair, but that’s expected. I love a two-tone seat, even if there’s another vague “H” there. But what is going on with the tall rear headrests in the truck? The SUV rear headrests look shorter, though not by much, and I’m bothered by the tallish headrests because the SUV seems to have low rear visibility.
The rear glass pane in the SUV looks narrow, and when you combine that with the full-size spare and headrests, its rear visibility looks compromised. It’s like looking through small clerestory windows. I know there’s a bunch of cameras onboard both models, but I’d prefer to have the cameras plus good visibility.
I’ll say one other nice thing about the cabin, just to be fair. The removable panels are neat. Overall, the interior of the Hummer EV SUV and truck look just OK.
But my question still stands: At $US100,000 ($130,630) or more, is just OK good enough?
