Available now at your GMC dealership is the GMC Hummer EV. An impressively large vehicle that is nevertheless surprisingly quick off the line, the new Hummer EV is an experience to drive. But one of the more interesting things about the new electric Hummer is a little Easter Egg buried in the sub-menu of the dashboard touchscreen–an icon labeled VPRWR. This icon appears to show a Hummer EV driving over a Tesla Cybertruck and was recently discovered by a Jalopnik writer.
GMC’s Cheeky Jab: VPRWR = Vaporware
How did GMC pull this off? Well, like many other modern off-road vehicles, the Hummer EV offers a large number of extra electrical circuits from the factory that can be used to control any aftermarket mods you might install. This could include off-road lights or a winch or whatever else.
Many automakers put in physical rocker switches to control these circuits, but the Hummer’s aux switches are touchscreen buttons on the Off-Road page of the infotainment array. You can configure each button with a custom label that you type in and an icon you choose from the available options. Some of the options are practical and obvious, like air horns or lights, but others are wildly silly and imaginative, like Frankenstein’s monster or a NASA spacecraft.
A Whole Fun Palette To Choose From
The Hummer EV’s aux control panel is full of fun and imaginative icons to choose from, including the Loch Ness monster, an ejector seat, a sasquatch, and even an Indiana Jones-style whip. At the very bottom of the palette is the cartoon depiction of a Hummer EV crawling up the windshield of something that looks very similar to the Tesla Cybertruck. The funny thing is that this jab at one of the Hummer EV’s rivals is not the only one.
If you look closely, you can find a button showing a T-Rex or Raptor being hit by a meteor. It’s up to you to decide which American rival truck might be the object of the jab here. According to the review of this entertaining feature, only a few of the buttons controlled anything installed by the dealer, but the rest of the aux buttons were not connected to anything. As for the VPRWR button, it’s possible that it was configured as such by a GM employee before the truck got out, or by another tester who had the Hummer EV before the Jalopnik writer.
The Vaporware Curse Explained
You might be wondering what’s so funny about the VPRWR button possibly being short for Vaporware. Vaporware is a computing term for software or hardware that is being hyped or advertised but isn’t available to buy. If you’ve been following the Tesla Cybertruck for any amount of time, you might know that it’s been given a release date multiple times now, but nothing concrete has happened. Last month’s news revealed that the Cybertruck is now slated for production by the end of 2023.
You might forgive EV truck fans for not gearing up for that release just yet, but the Hummer EV is available at GMC dealerships now.
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