Chevrolet Is Building Suburban HDs for the Government for $3.6 Million Each
Suburban HD will feature unique and production components, likely being built like a rolling fortress.
GM Defense – a division of General Motors – announced earlier this week that the company had been awarded a contract to build 10 examples of a unique Chevrolet Suburban HD for the United States government. The total value of this contract for 10 Suburbans is $36,400,000, meaning that each of the 10 SUVs will cost the federal government $3.64 million.
That’s right – the government is paying $3.64 million each for a fleet of Chevrolet Suburbans, but the price becomes even more outrageous as we get into the details.
Government-Spec Chevrolet Suburban HD
These 10 Chevrolet Suburban HD SUVs are being built for the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The details are relatively brief, but the press release from GM Defense said that these vehicles will “feature a new and unique body-on-frame chassis and suspension, designed to specifically support increased government vehicle performance requirements with a higher payload capacity and greater ground vehicle weight”.
So, they are basically super-heavy duty vehicles to safely carry around government officials. We imagine that the chassis is heavier duty, perhaps made to withstand much more abuse under load than your average Suburban. We would imagine that these vehicles would be heavily armored, which would add a significant amount of weight, hence the need for a unique suspension setup. However, we know that the body and many other components will be off-the-shelf, meaning that they are used in other, non-governmental models.
“GM Defense will use significant commercial-off-the-shelf parts, including the body, exterior, propulsion, interior and brakes for their government, purpose-built HD Suburban.”
There is no mention of the glass, wheels or tires, so we imagine that the DSS-issue Suburban will have bulletproof glass and specially prepared tires that can be driven on after being shot-up. We would also expect that the area under the body will be lined with bulletproof material, along with panels which protect the engine, transmission, fuel tank and cooling systems. Considering the cost and purpose, we expect that these Suburbans will rolling fortresses on wheels – or at least they should be at $3.64 million each.
Arrival and Future Plans
These 10 Chevrolet Suburban HD government vehicles will be built over the course of the next two years, with the first phase of delivery scheduled for spring of 2022 and the last of which will be delivered by May of 2023. After that, GM Defense expects that the government will enter into a new contract, with Chevrolet building a fleet of 200 Suburban HDs per year for 9 years, but it is unclear if those will also cost $3.64 million. If they are in the same general ballpark in terms of price, that fleet could cost upwards of $6.5 billion (200 vehicles per year, 9 years, $3.64 million per vehicle).
“We’re excited to be developing a fully-integrated, purpose-built HD Suburban in partnership with the U.S. Department of State,” said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense. “The Chevrolet Suburban has been an iconic name in commercial transportation since 1935. Our development contract win speaks to our long-standing legacy of exceeding transportation capabilities and our new, HD Suburban will deliver government-specific advanced mobility solutions to meet the needs of DSS.”
They had better be some damn fine SUVs for what they are costing the American taxpayer, but in any case, it is great news for General Motors.
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