General Motors proudly announced that its GMC Hummer electric vehicle pickup and SUV had received over 90,000 reservations. InsideEVs reported that this information was verified via AutoBlog at the Detroit Auto Show by GMC’s director of marketing, Rich Latek.
Notably, there has been great interest in these two huge vehicles, and it appears that this significant support is converting into purchases. In fact, more than 90,000 customers have already put down a deposit to reserve a spot in purchasing the said pickup truck and its SUV equivalent.
But given that only 400 units of each model were made in May due to production limitations, the queue will likely be lengthy. Moreover, only 50 Hummer EVs were produced in August, which shows that the production issue is not improving.
Although the Hummer EV SUV body design production is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2019, GMC has yet to even begin. Furthermore, customers have started receiving the pickup, and it has garnered favorable reviews. However, it has been tainted by an active recall to repair defective battery connectors, which was strangely started by dealers rather than the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The company responded by explaining how high-voltage battery pack connectors may let water infiltrate and degrade over time. Since there were not many of these automobiles in consumers’ possession, the recall did not affect many of them. However, it is estimated that this problem impacted 424 electric vehicles.
It is also worth noting that although production should resume in the upcoming months, General Motors would take many years to complete all orders, even under perfect conditions. Moreover, customers’ deposits may still be returned, but GMC asserts that more than 90% of reservation holders will proceed with the transaction.
Nonetheless, the Hummer EV will become less uncommon and probably more accessible due to General Motors’ current development of new battery plants that will allow it to produce more electric vehicles each month.
