Hummer has unleashed three of its newest and youngest designers to create the HX concept that will make its debut at the Detroit Motor Show in January. Fresh out of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, designers David Rojas (he created the blue concept), Min Young Kang (the red and black creation) and Robert Jablonski (the grey car) were assigned to create a vision of Hummer’s off-road future, creating a smaller, lighter and more agile junior Hummer.
So who was actually in charge of these fledglings?
They were helped by Carl Zipfel, director of the Hummer design studio and an ex-professional motocross racer. The trio were given three months before they presented their scale clay models to GM vice chairman Bob Lutz and GM design boss Ed Welburn, who ultimately decided which design would become the HX concept.
So which one got the nod?
We’ll have to wait until Detroit, but we do know that the HX is E85 capable – a concession to the environmentalists – and offers an open-air driving experience via a pair of removable roof panels above the driver and front passenger and a modular, removable rear roof assembly enabling a quick conversion from closed vehicle to open-topped car. It also features a slanted rear back with removable doors.
Isn’t it rare for designers to work together?
Yes, but this was a collaborative effort, as Rojas explains: ‘While Zipfel gave us creative liberty and challenged us to develop innovative ideas,’ says Rojas, ‘he also defined three Hummer proportions – wheelbase, approach and departure angles, and stance – and assigned one to each of us. It gave us a chance to collaborate, but also take our own direction.’
‘We drew inspiration from one another,’ says Kang. ‘As you’re designing and sketching you try to absorb what the other designer is doing and try to make it better.’