Much has been said these days about the revival of the legendary Hummer brand by GMC as an electric vehicle, with up to 1,000 CV of power and all the exuberance that it is supposed to have, the same thing that was experienced 28 years ago. in a distant year 1992 in which AM General was almost forced to commercialize the H1, a vehicle for civilian use that was practically the same Humvee seen in Operation Desert Storm. But, What was that first HUMMER turned into a military car with a license plate like?
When you create a need without knowing it
At the end of the 70s it was clear need for the US army to renew its old Jeepwhich even dated from the Second World War (1939 – 1945), carrying out a public contest in which different proposals were presented by companies such as Chrysler Defense either AM General and his HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) or high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, better known as humveewhich premiered during the invasion of Panama in 1989, although when it really rose to fame was in the Gulf War a year later, and also thanks to a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thus, this Humvee perfectly responded to all the demands of the US army, and those of other countries, granting great flexibility, since there were over 30 versions (ambulance, troop transport, vehicle with missile launcher, communications, with more or less shielding…).
All of this led to a certain public (those with wealthier portfolios) They demanded a 4×4 with the same aspect that they saw on their televisions launching missiles in the Middle East, since it was a way to stand out from the other SUVs of the time, and AM General took advantage of the opportunity that was presented to them by launching what we know as Hummer H1 for civilian use in 1992. During the 14 years it was for sale, it had various bodies (hard and soft top convertible, pick up and another completely closed one known as “Alpha Wagon”), as well as several engines, all of them consisting of a V8 turbodiesel with a minimum displacement of 5.7 litersThe most common being the 6.5-liter V8 with 205 HP of power and 597 Nm of torque, associated with a 4-speed automatic transmission and with an average consumption between 14 and 20 liters per 100 km.
In general, this 4×4 with a rough external appearance, weighing almost 2.5 tons on the scale and that It stands out more for its enormous width (2.2 meters) than for its length (4.69 meters).proportions that make it look even wider, it sold really well in the last five years of the nineties, coming to be marketed throughout its life more than 11 thousand units, a figure that, on the contrary, is far from the 280,000 for military use. Nevertheless, inside it was full of luxury on all four sideswith high-quality leather upholstery and the most advanced multimedia equipment for the time, although despite its size, it only had four seats!
From there, common sense prevailed with the birth of H2 in 2002a model completely developed for civilian use under the umbrella of General Motors, who bought the Hummer brand from AM General in 1998, arriving in 2006 as a Europeanized version of smaller dimensions, the H3, but maintaining that characteristic image of the brand, and most important of all, its unbeatable skills off the asphalt. However, it did not land exactly at the best moment, since only a couple of years later the famous economic crisis that we all lived through, and which ended up exploding as a result of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, left no room for a vehicle that still lacked moderately practical sense, and General Motors was forced to shut down Hummer in 2010.
