2011 Gmc Yukon Xl 1500 Denali Sport Utility 4-door 6.2l on 2040-cars

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GMC's electric Hummer could someday serve alongside the Humvee in the U.S. Army

Every civilian Hummer model traces its roots to AM General's Humvee, which made its combat debut when the United States invaded Panama in 1989. Fast forward to the 2020s, and the tables have turned. The born-again Hummer that will arrive with an electric powertrain and a GMC emblem could spawn a military-spec truck. "[The upcoming Hummer] is a full-size truck with 400 miles of range and 1,000 pound-feet of torque, it's a very highly capable vehicle. That could provide a great base platform for an electric vehicle to be used in the military context," said David Albritton, the president of General Motors Defense, in an interview with GM Authority. Although he didn't sketch out the Hummer's role in a battalion, its range, torque, and dimensions would theoretically make it well-suited to carrying soldiers, weapons, and/or gear like radio equipment. It wouldn't necessarily look like the production model (shown above in a preview image). General Motors Defense might use its basic platform and its powertrain technology to build a purpose-designed off-roader, like it did with the Colorado Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) it will soon begin manufacturing for the Army. The ISV shares 90% of its parts with the regular-production Chevrolet Colorado, but the two vehicles look nothing alike. Securing a contract with the American military is easier said than done, and Army officials haven't publicly expressed an interest in sending the upcoming Hummer into a war zone. We'll learn more about what a battle-ready electric truck could look like after the showroom-bound model makes its debut. In the meantime, Humvee production continues, and AM General introduced a comprehensively updated model named NXT 360 in 2018. Related Video:     Green GMC Hummer Truck Electric Military

GM might outsource vans to AM General

General Motors will possibly boost production of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon at the Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri by contracting out some commercial van manufacturing to AM General. Demand for the two midsize trucks continues to boom, and GM would like to take advantage of the strong market for them. The possible deal came to light in a letter to workers at the factory, according to Automotive News. "This potential partnership would free up production capacity and allow the organization to capitalize on our ability to build midsize trucks to further satisfy customer demand," a portion of the document allegedly said. AM General would reportedly only take over assembly of the cutaway versions of the Chevy Express and GMC Savana. Customers and critics have quickly embraced the latest Colorado and Canyon since their introduction. The Chevy just won back-to-back Motor Trend Truck of the Year awards. GM also had to add a third shift and extra workers in 2014 just to keep up with demand. The Wentzville plant even increased employment on the weekends earlier in 2015 to assemble an extra 2,000 of the trucks each month. While the two pickups boom, deliveries for the Chevy Express and GMC Savana are down 26.9 percent and 26.6 percent respectively through the first 10 months of the year. GM doesn't break out numbers for the cutaway versions, but they make up about a third of production, according to Automotive News. AM General built the Humvee for the US military and does some contract work with automakers. For example, the company's Indiana factory now produces the Mercedes-Benz R-Class for export to China. Here's hoping this potential deal will help both GM and AM General keep their factories humming. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1990 GMC S-15 Jimmy 4x4

The General sold the GMC-badged version of the first-generation Chevy S-10 Blazer, known as the S-15 Jimmy or just the Jimmy, from the 1982 through 1994 model years. These trucks were based on the small S-10 pickup and sold well (until small trucks were forced to get bigger and less truck-like after the dawn of the Ford Explorer-inspired commuter-truck era), but they have become difficult to find in vehicle graveyards in our current century. Here's a '90 Jimmy 4x4 with red-primer paint job, found in a self-service yard on California's Central Coast last month. GMC shoppers could get the 1990 Jimmy as a rear-wheel-drive truck, but this one has the four-wheel-drive option that allowed Tahoe-bound skiers to skip the chain monkeys on the way to the slopes (the CHP, understanding that California drivers have a 95% mortality rate on snow or ice, requires chains or four-wheel-drive to get over Donner Pass when there's a hint of snow forecast). GM sold so many millions of small-block Chevrolet V8s that it made economic sense to use the same tooling to produce a V6 version. The result was this truck's 4.3-liter V6 that was three-quarters of the good old Chevy 350 (5.7-liter) V8 that powered so many Camaros, Chevelles and Impalas. The 4.3 didn't make smooth power, but it got the job done and held together quite well. This one was rated at 160 horsepower, good enough for the Jimmy 4x4's 3,512-pound curb weight. These days, though, used-truck shoppers insist on at least two tons of heft plus four doors. Some discount lot in Monterey or Salinas couldn't even get $999 for this truck, and so it ended up in the final stop before the cold steel jaws of the crusher. 1990 was the last model year for the two-door-only Jimmy; for 1991, the Jimmy came with a choice of two doors (for devil-may-care types) or four doors (for drop-the-kids-at-school types). I've always liked the look of the instrument panels on the early S-10s and its siblings; even though the designers had to work within strict budgetary limitations, they made the panels look interesting. This truck nearly made it to 170,000 miles before the end. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. So powerful with the 4.3 (the regular S-15 pickup still came with a 2.8-liter V6 as base equipment) that it could destroy a TV camera.