General Motors opened a 148,000-square-foot Advanced Design studio in Pasadena, California, today and marked the occasion with the reveal of the GMC HUMMER X, a pair of mid-size electric concepts in truck and SUV form that exist to explore flexible manufacturing, modular design, and what GM calls “the builder maker” customer.
The studio spans three buildings and houses about 100 designers, sculptors, and fabricators working on conceptual studies intended to push beyond current production programs. The facility is fully equipped for full-size clay modeling, fabrication, and digital collaboration, continuing GM’s nearly 40 years of advanced design work in Southern California. GM’s first design director, Harley Earl, was born and raised in Hollywood and pioneered clay modeling in automotive design after building custom cars for movie stars in the 1920s. The company established its first permanent advanced design presence in Southern California in the 1980s.
Hussein Al Attar has been named director of the Pasadena studio, succeeding Brian Smith, who returns to the Chevrolet Corvette design team in Michigan after four years leading the California operation.
Metal 3D Printing at Volume
The HUMMER X concept twins are not headed for production, but they are testbeds for FLEX FAB, a flexible manufacturing technology that enables small-batch, on-demand production without specialized stamping tools. GM describes it as similar to 3D printing, but for metal. Multiple designs can run through the same machines.
That manufacturing flexibility shaped the aesthetic. The HUMMER X wears a clean, flat-topped silhouette with radiused edges, laser-welded seams, and visible precision bolts. Fifty-seven percent of both the truck and SUV body structures are built using FLEX FAB. The cockpit uses stackable displays that allow drivers to reconfigure the digital interface depending on whether they are rock crawling or running the highway.
The truck variant rides on a 130.7-inch wheelbase and stretches 207.3 inches overall, with 12.5 inches of ground clearance and approach, breakover, and departure angles of 41.5, 24.9, and 29.7 degrees. It rolls on 22-inch aluminum wheels with 305/55R22 Goodyear tires measuring 35 inches in outer diameter. The SUV is more compact, with a 116-inch wheelbase and an overall length of 188.3 inches. Ground clearance rises to 13.2 inches, and the angles improve to 44 degrees approach, 30.9 degrees breakover, and 46 degrees departure. The SUV runs 18-inch beadlock wheels with 315/75R18 Goodyear rock-terrain rubber measuring 37 inches tall.
Both concepts use Multimatic shocks, removable fender flares, and underbody protection. GM cites the low center of gravity inherent to battery-electric architecture and extreme on-demand torque as off-road advantages, though no power figures were disclosed.
Drones, Apps, and Mono-Materials
The design team built the HUMMER X around what it calls the “builder maker,” a customer who modifies, shares, and collaborates around a vehicle rather than simply driving it. To serve that vision, the studio conceptualized the HUMMER HUB, a suite of connected apps that link drivers and vehicles before, during, and after trips. One feature is a scout drone that flies ahead on trails, feeds real-time terrain data back to the vehicle, and docks itself when not in use.
The sustainability angle centers on mono-materials. The concept replaces adhesives with snap fits and mechanical fasteners, using single materials designed for full recyclability. Seatbacks, headrest backs, and instrument panel ends are made from recycled car fascias. Parts are designed for easy disassembly so customers can swap, share, and recirculate them within the community, creating what GM frames as a circular economy.
The team embedded a few design details: the working mantra “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints” is imprinted in Morse code on the floor, and the tire treads spell out “the courage to get lost leads to new discoveries.”
The HUMMER X exists in the same conceptual space as autonomous studies and experimental Corvettes that have come out of GM’s Los Angeles-area studios over the decades. The difference is the manufacturing technology underneath. FLEX FAB is the story here. If it scales beyond one-off concepts, it changes how automakers think about low-volume production, special editions, and custom builds. Whether it does scale is the question the next several years will answer.
For now, the HUMMER X is a 148,000-square-foot calling card.
GMC HUMMER X concept Photo Gallery
Source: GMC. Images courtesy of GMC.
