Hummer H3T

Hummer enters the pickup market riding on 33-inch tires.

BY ALISA PRIDDLE
January 2008

Hummer enters the pickup market with the H3T after flirting with the notion with its H2 SUT (Sport Utility Truck). The H3T, unveiled at the Chicago auto show in February, will be available this fall.

"We're in the pickup business now," says Carl Zipfel, director of Hummer exterior design, in describing the five-passenger H3T crew cab that is sized between a mid-size and full-size pickup, as opposed to the H2 SUT, which is an SUV with a quasi-bed that's fewer than four feet long.

We first saw an H3T concept from Hummer at the 2004 L.A. auto show. Now, four years later, we are seeing the production-ready model. Hummer took the H3 SUV (they are the same from the B-pillar forward) and essentially added rear doors and a five-foot box, Zipfel says. The four-door H3T's 134-inch wheelbase is 22 inches longer than H3 SUV's, and the total length of the pickup is 210 inches.

The H3T shares powertrains with the SUV on which it is based, which means the H3T Alpha has a 5.3-liter V-8 that delivers 300 horsepower and 320 pound-feet of torque, mates to a four-speed automatic transmission, and can tow up to 5900 pounds. The standard engine is the 242-hp, 3.7-liter inline-five with a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. The new pickup has standard full-time four-wheel drive and skid plates.

Don't Try This with Just Any Old Pickup

The H3T can be outfitted with massive 33-inch tires—an inch bigger than standard—further and intimidating evidence that Hummer wants to lay claim to the most-capable off-road-pickup crown. Unlike other mid-size pickups, the Hummer has front and rear locking differentials. This is a pickup that can crawl up a 60-percent grade and traverse a 40-percent side slope, with a 39-degree approach angle and 30-degree departure angle—not stats you generally hear in the context of a pickup.

The H3T bed is similar to that in GM's full-size pickups, with a removable tailgate—but no Midgate system, as on the Chevy Avalanche. The integrated bed liner is standard, and a three-rail system for cargo solutions is available as a dealer accessory, as are removable, lockable bed-mounted storage boxes and a bed extender, to name a few of the 75-plus available add-ons.

Customers will have a choice of four trim levels, and the vehicle will be sold in Europe and the Middle East as well as North America. Assembly begins in the third quarter of 2008 at GM's Shreveport, Louisiana, plant alongside the H3 and the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups, which share the same architecture.

Nothing Says Green like a Hummer

Meanwhile, Hummer general manager Martin Walsh says all vehicles in the brand will be capable of running on biofuels by 2010, starting with an E85 (85-percent ethanol) H2 line in August.

And the Hummer lineup continues to expand, with the HX concept that debuted at this year's North American International Auto Show giving us our first look at a smaller future H4.