My buddy Eric and I were driving along Highway 224 from Park City towards Kimball Junction and a behemoth H2 Hummer came rolling by. It’s not that I haven’t seen a H2 before. On the contrary, I am quite tired seeing the plethora of Hummers that drive around the Wasatch Back. But this one was different.
As it drove by something caught my eye. I did a quadruple check and asked Eric if I was seeing things. Sure enough I wasn’t. This H2 Hummer was sporting some nice little “Hybrid” insignias which looked oh so familiar to the Ford Escape Hybrid symbol. Could Ford and GM be sharing symbol manufacturers?
Incredulous I pulled out my digital camera and documented the sighting. Evidence:
Still incredulous I did some poking around the web. I found this quote from the GMHummer Fan Site, posted by the Admin in January 2005:
The Hummer has been knocked by environmental groups for its fuelish ways, but don’t expect a hybrid gas-electric version of this General Motors SUV anytime soon.
“Should we immediately go and get on the hybrid bandwagon? No, that’s not appropriate for us,” said Susan Docherty, general manager of the Hummer Division.
“We need to be true to what we are from a Hummer standpoint. We’re a real
masculine, rugged, irreverent brand,” she said Tuesday.
OK, so that was 2005. Then this year Arnold was presented with a special edition Hummer Hybrid followed by Paris ordering a Hybrid Hummer (nobody bothered to tell her that Hummer doesn’t make a hybrid – she just smiled).
Further investigation led me to the HybridAutoInfo.com blog. Although it spoke about the 2008 H2 Hummer and included a video of one from an auto show which didn’t have the “Hybrid” symbol from what I could see, there was no mention of a hybrid. It the only thing close to was this one liner following a mention of a diesel Hummer H2 expected out in 2009:
What next? Hybrid Hummers?
Botton line: is this just a scam by some ultra rich yet self conscious and dishonest Parkite looking for an adda-boy while driving his 6400 lb behemoth around Park City? Or does the H2 Hybrid really exist, leaving me looking like the over-zealous tree hugger that some think I am?
Anyone got some light to shed on the topic?
One Response to “A Hybrid H2 Hummer Sighting?”
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January 13th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Just surfin on a relaxing afternoon. While GM is releasing a Hybrid Tahoe in the next couple of months, no “official” H2 in hybrid form. At this point all of GMs “big box hybrid” talk is just big talk! Pulling an extra 4MPG out of the 4×4 Tahoe hybrid sounds good as a percentage of increased economy but, actual MPG averages are still very weak. In the mountains in which we live, the electric motor would never be in operation so you might pick up 1 extra MPG. I own a recent model year suburban, upon which platform the H2 is based and the bottom line is this. They depreciate wicked fast, begin to experience major & very expensive component failures shortly after warranty expiration and there is just no room in our environment for vehicles that average 16MPGs! That being said, the bank tells me I’m in love with mine for a couple more years.