Suv Pewter Ext,wheat Leather Int,air Ride,roof Rack,nav,3 Screens,truck Vault on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mercedes moves R-Class production to AM General in Indiana

Go back a decade or two and you'd have seen the SUV market polarizing in opposite directions: hard-core off-roaders like the Hummer on the one hand, and passenger-focused crossovers like the Mercedes R-Class on the other. Now their fates are set to intertwine, at least as far as manufacturing is concerned. No longer producing Hummers, AM General (which designed and originally produced the Hummer) has been assigned the task of manufacturing the R-Class at its underused, 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, IN – part of metropolitan South Bend. The decision was undertaken to allow Mercedes to free up production capacity at its plant in Tuscaloosa, AL, where it also produces the M-Class, GL-Class and C-Class, and where it will soon begin manufacturing the GLE Coupe. The vacation of the R-Class assembly line could be earmarked to make room for that new slant-roofed crossover (which was originally thought to be joining the Tuscaloosa plant as a fifth model) or could pave the way for another model to reach Alabama altogether. The multi-year arrangement to manufacture the R-Class makes AM General the first manufacturer contracted to build Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the US, but hardly the only one in the world. The G-Class – which could, incidentally, be characterized as the German equivalent of the Hummer – is built on Mercedes' behalf by Magna Steyr in Austria, and the company builds many of its passenger and commercial vehicles for local consumption under joint ventures in the Far East especially. The R-Class was first introduced in 2005, and though it's still built in America, it was removed from the company's US lineup back in 2012. However Mercedes confirms that, since 2013, it has been and remains available exclusively in China. That puts the R-Class in the rare position of being manufactured in the United States by (or now for) a foreign automaker but unavailable for sale here. AM General Selected As Mercedes-Benz First and Only Contract Manufacturer of Vehicles in the United States SOUTH BEND, Ind., Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AM General LLC and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc., today announced that Mercedes-Benz has selected AM General to manufacture the Mercedes-Benz R-Class luxury vehicle at AM General's world-class 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant.

Watch the 2022 GMC Hummer EV launch using its Watts to Freedom mode

It’s nearly the July Fourth weekend, and GM is celebrating Independence Day a little earlier than most. The celebration comes in the form of a GMC Hummer EV demonstrating Watts to Freedom, or WTF, mode for us on video. You can watch it at the top of this post, but the idea is rather simple. ItÂ’s just a video of a Hummer development vehicle accelerating as quickly as it can from 0-60 mph and beyond. GMC claims its 1,000-horsepower electric Hummer is capable of hitting the 0-60 mph mark in “approximately 3 seconds,” which is borderline terrifying for how large of a vehicle it is. The super-quick time is possible when using the Watts to Freedom launch control mode, which “channels the propulsion systemÂ’s tremendous power into acceleration bursts.” The truck will still be plenty fast when accelerating normally, but WTF mode is what you should use to unlock its full potential. GMCÂ’s video shows us the graphics it uses in the digital cluster to signal Watts to Freedom is activated, and the whole sequence looks like it leans on U.S. military themes for both design and phrasing. For example, GMC lets you know that Watts to Freedom is ready via an “Armed” message in the cluster.  The 2022 GMC HUMMER EV is a first-of-its kind supertruck develop View 40 Photos Instead of a rumbling exhaust and screeching tires, the Hummer appears to silently launch with all four tires grabbing on and catapulting the truck away. It looks quick as it throws all of the weight rearward into an accelerative squat. And in case you missed it, thatÂ’s a lot of weight — GMC says itÂ’ll tip the scale at 9,046 pounds. GMC has previously said that production will begin in late 2021, and this video continues to confirm that timeframe with a note saying “initial availability Fall 2021.” Do keep in mind that only the sold-out Launch Edition is coming at that time. Other cheaper variants will follow in the years to come. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. GMC Hummer EV reveal

General Motors has tried to cast Hummer in a greener light before

Rumors claim General Motors will resurrect the Hummer name on an electric pickup truck by 2022, and GM allegedly will preview the model with an ad starring basketball star LeBron James during the 2020 Super Bowl. If accurate, the move would represent a stunning 180-degree turn for a nameplate long associated with war-like gas-guzzlers. It wouldn't be the first time the automaker has tried to cast Hummer in a greener light, however. In 2004, when mass electrification looked as realistic as George Jetson's flying car, Hummer collaborated with Quantum Technologies to build a one-off H2 SUT named H2H powered by hydrogen. Engineers modified the stock H2's 6.0-liter V8 to run on compressed hydrogen stored in three carbon fiber tanks, and added a supercharger to offset the loss of power. The eight-cylinder made 180 horsepower, compared to 325 horsepower in the gasoline-powered model, and the truck's 12-pound hydrogen storage capacity gave it a 60-mile range. "The H2H was created for two purposes. It brings focus and attention to the journey to a hydrogen economy, and it will provide GM with key learnings on hydrogen storage, hydrogen delivery systems, and hydrogen refueling infrastructure development," explained Elizabeth Lowery, the company's then-vice president of environment and energy. She emphasized the H2H's experimental vocation and said there were no plans to bring it to production. Actor, then-California governor, and devout Hummer fan Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated the H2H as a vision of the future after taking it for a spin. It didn't have much of a future, as it turns out, and it remained a prototype. Fast-forward to 2009, less than a year before Hummer shut down after the Chinese government vetoed a proposed sale to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company. General Motors teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, it had much bigger worries than Hummer's fuel economy, so the task of making a greener truck fell into the lap of suppliers. FEV and Raser joined forces to build a plug-in hybrid prototype based on the H3. Its powertrain was built around a turbocharged, 2.0-liter EcoTec engine related to the unit found in the Chevrolet HHR SS and the Pontiac Solstice GXP, among other cars. In this application, it powered a 100-kilowatt generator that zapped a 268-horsepower electric motor into motion. Output traveled through the H3's stock four-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel-drive system, including the transfer case.