Autoblog

Our friend Mike Levine, proprietor of PickupTruck.com, was trying out the new H3T pickup out in Moab, Utah this week and learned that the H3 will finally lose its hoary old five-cylinder base engine in favor of something a little more modern. A new flex fuel-capable direct-injected 3.6L V6 like the one used in the HX concept will become the new base powerplant for the H3 by 2010. The last remaining question is, will the H3 get a diesel? The answer is yes... eventually. We spoke with HUMMER's Martin Walsh at the New York Auto Show this week and a diesel is in the cards for the H3, and it will be different than the diesel six-cylinder being used in Europe. Since the 4.5L fits in anything that GM's small-block V8 does, the European diesel six is possible, but a smaller diesel seems more likely. To that end, we've heard rumors since last spring of a new diesel V6 being developed for use in the H3. We don't know when it's ultimately going to arrive, but it will, and change is clearly afoot on the powertrain side at HUMMER.

[Source: PickupTruck.com, Photo: Alex Núñez]