CarBrandLogos archive · Hummer · 2002

HummerHummer H2

Suburban underneath, Humvee on the outside, and a lightning rod for its decade.

Photo: Alexandre Prevot from Nancy, France · CC BY-SA 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Hummer history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Hummer H2, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

General Motors owned the brand but not a vehicle it could build in volume, since the H1 was hand-assembled and impossible to sell profitably in numbers. The H2, launched in 2002 and styled under Clay Dean, solved that by mounting Hummer-shaped bodywork on a mixture of Tahoe and heavy-duty pickup chassis components, with a 6.0-litre LQ4 V8 and a four-speed automatic. AM General built it under contract at Mishawaka, and a second line later operated at Avtotor in Kaliningrad.

Hummer H2 SUT black · roger blake · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

It was genuinely capable off-road by ordinary SUV standards, with locking differentials and good geometry, but capability was not what it sold on. The H2 looked military, weighed enough to fall outside some US fuel economy reporting requirements, and consumed fuel accordingly, which made it the most convenient available symbol of American excess. It appeared in rap videos and in newspaper columns about waste with roughly equal frequency.

2007 Hummer H2, rear left, 09-27-2025 · MercurySable99 · CC BY-SA 4.0

In production

A 6.2-litre L92 V8 and a six-speed automatic arrived for 2008, improving it just as the market disappeared. Fuel prices spiked, the financial crisis hit, and GM ended production in 2009 while shutting the brand entirely. A pickup variant, the H2 SUT, was later cited as the predecessor when the name returned as an electric vehicle.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2002–2009

Engine

6.0&nbsp

Technical specification

The Hummer H2, in detail.

Production: 2002–2009
Class: Full-size SUV; Full-size pickup truck
Body style: 5-door Sports utility vehicle; SUV ; 5-door pickup truck
Layout: Front engine, four-wheel drive
Engine: 6.0 L General Motors LS-based small-block engine#LQ4; LQ4 V8 engine; V8 (2003–2007); 6.2 L General Motors LS-based small-block engine#L92; L92 V8 (2008–2009)
Transmission: 4-speed 4L60E automatic (2002–2004) ; 4-speed 4L65E automatic (2005–2007); 6-speed 6L80E automatic transmission; automatic (2008–2009)
Assembly: United States: Mishawaka, Indiana; Russia: Kaliningrad (Avtotor) ; designer = Clay Dean (2000)
Manufacturer: AM General under contract from General Motors