| When David Rojas, Min Young Kang and Robert Jablonski graduated from the Detroit's
College for Creative Studies and were hired into General Motors' HUMMER design
studio in 2006, their first big assignment was a designer's dream.
The three were tasked with developing a potential vision for the future of an
iconic brand. The result is a concept vehicle intended to evoke and perpetuate
the off-road capabilities of HUMMER, while reaching a new audience and taking
moving into the realm of alternative fuels.
General Motors has announced that by 2010 all HUMMERs will be capable of operating
on biofuels. When GM announced the new Duramax 4500 light duty diesel V-8 earlier
this year, the big H2 was one of the applications for the engine and it will be
able to run on biodiesel. The gasoline fueled engines in the both the H2 and H3
will be updated to add flex-fuel E85 capability in the next two years as well.
However, before either of those vehicles joins the market the HUMMER HX concept
emerges as the first biofuel-capable vehicle publicly shown by the GM brand. The
HX is the result of the design competition among the three rookie designers. Each
of the three produced sketches of a future smaller model that takes typical HUMMER
design cues and applies them to a new class of vehicle for the company.
Under the hood the HX uses the first flex-fuel version of GM's high-feature 3.6L
V-6. This six cylinder engine is currently used in both longitudinal and transverse
configurations in a wide variety of vehicles in the US and overseas markets. The
3.6L is available in everything from the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura to the big
Lamda-platform CUVs, such as the Saturn Outlook. The latest production version
introduced on the 2008 Cadillac CTS and STS adds direct fuel injection to raise
the output from approximately 260hp (depending on the application) to 304hp. The
V-6 is also available in overseas markets in a 2.8L version.
The direct injected 3.6L is the basis of the engine in the HX. The 304hp engine
has an aluminum block with cast in iron liners. The dual overhead camshafts feature
variable valve timing. The engine is mounted longitudinally and paired up with
GM's 6L50 six-speed automatic transmission.
The HX is most closely comparable to the Jeep Wrangler in terms of both functionality
and size. The 103in wheelbase slots in between the two and four door Jeeps. Like
its rival, most of the top is removable and different configurations are available
depending on the driver's needs. The panels above the front seats can be taken
out and the rear section can be either a slant back or square back design. The
fenders are also easily removable for off-road use.
Inside the 20" wheels are 15" diameter brake rotors with 6-piston Brembo calipers
in the front and 4-piston units on the rear axle. Drive and brake torques are
transmitted to the ground regardless of whether it's paved or not through a set
of 35" Bridgestone Dueler tires.
For now the HX is a concept only but something very much like it may emerge as
an H4 model in the next few years. Regardless of the fate of a production vehicle
based on this concept, a flex-fuel version of the 3.6L V-6 is almost a certainty
in the not-too-distant future. HUMMER has confirmed that the 2009 model H2 will get flex-fuel capability on
it's 6.2L V-8
JANUARY 2008
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