A brand-new GMC Hummer EV has gotten into an incident shortly after exiting the dealership with 15 miles (25 km) on the odometer. Repairing the ruined suspension and undercarriage would have cost $78,000, but the owner said he was ‘not impressed’ with the truck.
Edmond Barseghian purchased a maxed-out Edition 1 pickup for U.S. $112,595, getting adaptive air suspension, four-wheel steering, Crabwalk Mode, stainless-steel bottom guards, surround view cameras, large displays in the cabin and a trio of electric motors rated close to 1,000 horsepower. What could go wrong?
Apparently, the popular YouTuber turned on a feature called Watts to Freedom, which enabled him to go 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in three seconds flat, and subsequently lost control of the truck. Having covered around ten miles with a couple of passengers in the back seats, he veered off the road intending to have some mild overlanding fun – but hit a ditch. It didn’t help that he had previously disabled a suspension assist feature making the shocks too stiff to react in time.
The car ended up with parts of its undercarriage broken, crumpled bodywork, destroyed HVAC and ruptured battery cooling circuit. The rear skid guard was completely torn off in the crash.
Barseghian was quick to blame the weight of the car for the scope of the damage, arguing that it weighed in above 9,000 pounds (more than 4.1 metric tons). In a lighter vehicle, an impact at this acceleration would likely not lead to such serious consequences. It didn’t help that he didn’t bother buying an insurance, either. Things took a turn from bad to worse when the dealership replied that a full repair would cost $78,000 due to some parts still being in limited supply after the production start in Detroit in late 2021.
Barseghian still found a reason to be optimistic, though, saying he had something of a penchant for wrecking a car every five years or so. With multiple supercars in his garage, he was glad to get rid of the Hummer EV, which he never started to like, instead of losing a more valuable car.