A Hummer without a V8 is, apparently, like a donut without jam in it. That's what potential American buyers of the Hummer H3 have been saying when they find out that this amazing-looking SUV is powered by a rather unspectacular 240bhp five-cylinder engine. However, they'll grumble no longer; GM has managed to squeeze 5.3-litres of small block Yankee brawn under the H3's (relatively) small bonnet, and it'll be showing the result – the Hummer H3 Alpha – at the New York motor show this year.This new, faster H3 comes as a second instalment in Hummer's Alpha performance series, after the beefed-up H1 Alpha. Its eight-pot petrol engine produces 295bhp and 317lb ft of torque, and sends the mid-sized 4x4 to 60mph in around 8.0sec. More important to Hummer devotees may be that it's also capable of towing more than 2700kg – 33 per cent more than a five-pot H3.The H3 Alpha will be built at Hummer's US plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, and will go on sale in the US this summer. There is no word yet as to whether it will also be built at Hummer's right-hand drive factory in South Africa, and might therefore make it to the UK.
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