GM Wants Hummer EV Speed To Make Two-Year Car Development The Norm

What GM Learned From The Hummer EV

The GMC Hummer EV arrived in 2021 as a bold showcase of EV capability, combining massive size with quirky features like CrabWalk. However, rising price sensitivity around EVs and the arrival of more electric pickups, including the TeslaCybertruck, have made it less central to the conversation today. Still, one important lesson General Motors took from the Hummer EV was the possibility of developing vehicles much faster, as the model was completed in just 20 months.

That is significantly faster than the usual four- to six-year timeline. A shorter development process is becoming more relevant as Chinese automakers move quickly in the global EV market and competition intensifies. Changing regulations, such as the loss of the federal EV tax credit, can also make long development cycles riskier, since vehicles still in progress may have less time to adapt before launch.

To that end, GM told Business Insider that it is leveraging AI, simulation, and decades of engineering data to target a two-year vehicle development process.

The Next-Generation Development Toolkit

Sterling Anderson, GM chief product officer, said, “We want that to be the norm, not an exception.” He added, “The team did a number of Herculean things to make that happen. These tools are making it possible for our entire product development organization to do the same thing without the heroics for every vehicle we build.”

The use of AI allows GM to create customized virtual tools that can simulate vehicle behavior, including handling, crash performance, cabin cooling, airflow, energy consumption, range, and fuel efficiency. Physical prototypes would still be used, but the automaker increasingly sees them as confirmation builds rather than the first point of discovery.

One result of this approach is a redesigned rear-hood bracket for the Chevrolet Corvette, which is said to be 30% stiffer, 20% lighter, and about 95% more durable than the original design.

Speed As A Competitive Advantage

With faster development processes, GM could respond more quickly to market trends, which is especially important after several automakers have written down billions of dollars tied to EV plans. In the U.S., demand has also shifted more attention toward hybrids, rewarding companies like Toyota that took a slower approach to EV adoption. There could also be renewed interest in sedans amid affordability concerns, a segment GM’s mass-market brand, Chevrolet, currently does not compete in.

This initiative follows GM saying that it is using AI to turn hand sketches into vehicle designs, reducing a process that once took weeks or months to just days.

View the full article