Lucas Bell 
One needs only to look at the GMC Hummer EV lineup to recognize what the vehicle is all about. It’s physically massive and imposing to behold, yet it is clearly a forward looking take on pickup design. Perhaps most importantly however, General Motors’ first electric pickup is instantly recognizable as a Hummer product. Despite the disconnect with what that nameplate once meant and the tech behind this new luxurious electric pickup, the design language helps ease that dichotomy. As it turns out however, there were several different design themes that were considered during the design process. In fact, GMC Hummer EV exterior designer John Mack told MC&T that settling on just one of these themes was the single largest challenge of the Hummer’s design process.
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GMC Hummer EV: A Truck With Many Themes
“We probably had six or seven themes going,” said Mack in an interview with MC&T. “We had sporty, more athletic. We had some that were very militaristic. We had some that were moon rover inspired. The California studio also had some inputs to this. We had some traditional evolution… after all those iterations we had to pick one that hit the sweet spot. And at the end of the day we feel that we picked something that was rugged and felt very fresh… some of the really futuristic ones, although they looked futuristic, were a bit too much of a departure from where the Hummer left off. We feel like we hit it dead on where it resides.”
Many early GMC Hummer EV ideation sketches have been shared on the GM Design Instagram page, showcasing a breadth of conceptual styles that designers were experimenting with. We can definitely see the lunar, military and sporty styles that Mack is describing.
The GMC Hummer EV design team has done a great job striking the balance between classic brand themes and future-driven design. In the end it seems that bits and pieces were included from each of those main themes, with the Moonshot interior to the rugged Humvee-esque bodywork.
Mack also stated that designers were able to get a bit of a head start compared to when the program was officially green-lit on April 1, 2019.
“On the exact (start) date, we might have had a few weeks’ running start on that one. We heard rumblings that it was going to get going. So we started a little bit earlier… we were very excited to have this,” he said.
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