Benchmarking isn’t an entirely new concept in the automotive industry. It’s one of the ways that automakers use to develop a car and more importantly, to see the shortcomings of its rivals and build upon those to make a better vehicle. Ford has done so with the Mustang Shelby GT350 before, caught benchmarking the Porsche 911 GT3 near the Dearborn proving grounds.
We’re pretty sure that many automakers do so when developing new cars, but not the 2022 GMC Hummer EV.
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GMC’s new all-electric truck doesn’t have a true rival in the market right now. Yes, we’re aware that a number of automakers such as Ford, Rivian, and Tesla have already started the development of their electric trucks, but as of this writing, none of these EV cargo-haulers exist in a customer’s garage.
With that, GMC is tasked to develop the Hummer EV without any benchmarking involved. As the carmaker sees it, it’s like developing a vehicle with a “clean slate,” according to Hummer EV Vehicle Performance Engineer Todd Hubbard in an interview with Muscle Cars & Trucks.
“Let’s just set a target, not rely on competitors, and just make the best truck we can make. And we’re going to make it super capable, have all this new tech, and we’re going to do it to the best of our ability… that’s kind of our mentality. To do the best job we can, and make it a super truck,” he added.
Whether the lack of benchmarks worked for GMC or not depends entirely on how you see the Hummer EV. But on paper, the battery-powered truck looks promising, on- and off-road. That alone already deserves a round of applause, but we have to wait until customer deliveries start before we see if it deserves a standing ovation.
