Test drive: 2021 GMC Yukon Diesel
The 2021 GMC Yukon Diesel combines the pulling power of a V8 with crossover fuel economy, but is already nearing the end of the road, according to Fox News Autos Editor Gary Gastelu.
The new GMC HUMMER EV pickup and SUV are throwbacks to HUMMER H2s from a decade ago, but their inspiration goes much further back than that.
The HUMMER EV's digital display animations feature outer space imagery. (GMC)
Chief engineer Al Oppenheiser told Fox News Autos that when his team was tasked on April 1, 2019 with designing and engineering an electric truck lineup that would go into production within two and a half years, about half the time typically allotted, it drew inspiration from the Apollo Program’s race to the Moon.
"We really felt this tie to what the NASA team must’ve had to go through to develop something in such a short period of time," Oppenheiser said.
(NASA)
General Motors was directly involved in the Apollo Program, co-developing the Lunar Roving Vehicle with Boeing that would become the first and still only vehicle ever driven by a human on an extraterrestrial body.
EXCLUSIVE: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO DRIVE ON THE MOON
Of course, like the three rovers that remain on the Moon’s surface and would be the ultimate "barn finds" if recovered, the new HUMMERs are all-electric, but slightly more capable.
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While the rover’s four electric motors were rated at a quarter horsepower each and its silver-zinc battery pack good for an estimated 57-mile range in the low-gravity environment, the HUMMER’s Ultium electric platform is capable of delivering up to 1,000 hp and 350 miles of driving on Earth.
(GMC)
To tie the two together, the HUMMER design team shifted away from the military ties of past models and used a lunar theme on the new trucks that includes topographical maps of the Sea of Tranquility on the cargo floor, door speakers and other spots, along with recreations of Neil Armstrong’s footprint in the regolith.
(GMC)
The digital instrument cluster also displays a white lunar pattern wallpaper during the day.
(GMC)
But could the new HUMMERs actually work on the Moon?
"That’s a good question, I’d sure love to try. Maybe Mars," Oppenheiser said.