DETROIT - General Motors (GM) is planning to expand its profitable Hummer brand to include H3, a midsize pickup expected to cost less than $35,000 and to be more environmentally friendly than its notorious big brother sport-utility vehicle, H2.

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The H3 concept truck shown Tuesday in Los Angeles is built from parts of the new Chevy Colorado pickup and Chevy TrailBlazer SUV. It keeps many of the familiar angles and battering-ram looks of the military Humvee and the H2.

"We know people have been expecting an SUV, but we wanted to see what the reaction would be from Hummer owners to a more traditional pickup package but with Hummer's personality," says Ed Welburn, GM's design chief.

Assuming GM builds an H3, it likely will come in both pickup and SUV versions. A pickup version of the H2 goes on sale next summer.

GM is racking up rich profit on the $50,000 H2. It's on track to sell about 35,000 this year, about twice what it reportedly needs to break even. Sales have flown in the face of a soft economy earlier in the year, wartime jitters, and the sneers of environmental groups for its poor fuel economy, about 11 miles per gallon.

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The H3 concept is powered by a 350-horsepower turbocharged inline five-cylinder engine, a variation on the engine found in the Colorado. GM says that engine performs like a V-6 but is about 15% to 20% more fuel efficient.

Hummer general manager Mike DiGiovanni says GM is looking to put a gas-electric hybrid engine in a future Hummer, or perhaps the H2, as well as a hydrogen fuel cell. He says those technologies will enhance Hummer's off-road capability and improve its image.

DiGiovanni says it's fun to work on a brand that is so split between the passion of its owners and derision of non-buyers. "We'll never be for everyone, and that makes our job easier," he says...more