The Auto Writer

Once in awhile you hear about a 20-something individual who is turning the world upside down by leaving his or her impact on the world in a significant way. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with one such person — David Rojas, the young Lead  Designer  for  the  Hummer  Hx  concept – which made its debut at the GM Press Conference. The photo of the concept is pictured in the preceding article, David’s photo is shown here.

David is part of a team of three young people who designed the Hx (Robert Jablonski and Minyoung Kang are the others) a vehicle that promises to take Hummer in a bold new direction by producing smaller, but still highly capable off-road vehicles.

The following are some of the key questions I asked of Mr. Rojas, a rising star with GM:

Q. Please give to me an overview of the Hx.
A. The Hummer Hx is a 4 passenger, 2 door on and off road vehicle featuring a 3.6L V6 and a 6-speed automatic transmission. The vehicle sits on 35 inch tires which were custom designed by Bridgestone for the Hx. The Hx features full-time 4WD with front & rear locking differentials. We’ll have a biofuel option available with this model.

Q. What makes the Hx unique compared to other vehicles in its class, namely the Jeep Wrangler?
A. The rear part of the Hx is modular — drivers can change it to be either a slant back, square back or truck bed body. The doors and roof panels can be removed as can the fender flares and doors.

Q. Who is your target consumer for the Hx?
A. I developed the Hx to reflect my personal tastes, something people in my age group (Generation Y) I believe will also be very interested in buying.

Q. How long have you been with GM and where did you go to school?
A. I started with GM two and one-half years ago, right out of college. I attended the College of Creative Studies along with the two other project designers.

As the Hx is a concept, there is no guarantee that it will go into production. Still, I later learned from Martin Walsh, General Manger for Hummer that future Hummer products would be smaller and lighter, a trend exhibted in the Hx.

The Hx is refreshingly smaller, attractive, and fun-looking — just the type of vehicle that would go well with the Hummer fleet.