General Motors Corp., the owner of the Hummer brand, will take the wraps off the next-generation Hummer concept vehicle, the H3T, at the Los Angeles auto show next month, officials said Tuesday.

The small pickup built on a compact frame is drastically smaller than the steroidal H2 sport-utility vehicle, and about twice as fuel-efficient.

The H3T has a turbocharged engine that can get upwards of 22 miles to the gallon in contrast to the gas-guzzling H2's 10 miles per gallon.

The H3T signals a "youthful, smaller, more affordable," direction, and is an indication of what's down the road for the "expanding" brand, said Ed Welburn, vice president of design for GM North America.

The current lineup comprises just two vehicles: the Humvee H1 sport-utility that the Indiana-based company AM General made for the US military, and that GM acquired when it bought the company's Hummer division in 1989, and a commercial spinoff of that vehicle -- the H2.

GM is expected to have a third vehicle -- the H3, similar to the H3T -- available by 2006, although the H3T's designer Clay Dean is unwilling to say whether it will be a pickup or sport-utility vehicle.

Dean said the concept is "a little more environmentally responsible," than its predecessors, but environmentalists are sceptical of any future Hummer's green credentials.

General Motors will have to do a lot more than simply saying the next Hummer will not be "as bad as the H1 or H2," said Brendan Bell, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, a California-based environmental group.

The notion of an environmentally friendly Hummer is a contradiction in terms, suggested Bell, pointing to the vehicle's image.

"GM suggesting that a Hummer is good for the environment is like suggesting milkshakes help people lose weight."

As for commercial success, that will depend on how fashionable the vehicle is among influential buyers such as music stars and athletes, rather than its fuel efficiency, analysts said.

"It's all about prestige," said Marty Bernstein, an automotive marketing consultant in Troy, Michigan, who believes the key to Hummer's success is the exclusivity that comes with owning an expensive and oversized vehicle.

The H2 retails for about 50,000 dollars. GM had said it planned to sell between 25,000 and 30,000 units a year, but has already exceeded that target this year, selling 30,788 H2s through the end of November.

"There comes a point when a vehicle is too affordable. Look at Mercedes-Benz after it started offering a car for under 30,000 dollars in the US market. It lost market share in the luxury sector in the end. It's like Tiffany's selling cubic zirconium. It just doesn't work.

"Just keep in mind, bigger is better and the more 'bling bling' (flashy accessories) GM can put on it the better."

GM officials insist that top-of-the-line features, including satin, aluminum-trimmed interior components, inclinometers and altimeters embedded in the instrument panel, and DVD cameras that record road-trips for posterity will "telegraph a new philosophy of elegance."

TERRA.WIRE