Long considered by environmentalists as the symbol of SUV excess, the Hummer is coming in a flex fuel version. Can a "green" Hummer stretch be too far behind?

The Hummer brand of off-road trucks has become a poster child for anti-environmentalism over the past decade, but that could change under the new owners.

The company has announced that the 2010 Hummer H3 will be available with a flex-fuel engine that can run on E85 fuel, according to Autoblog.

With Hummer becoming a standalone company, the off-road truck maker is facing the daunting task of meeting the U.S. government's gas mileage requirements without help from the small cars sold by Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn. Since the government mandates the average gas mileage of a company's fleet of vehicles, Hummers slipped by with low mileage by being balanced by gas sippers like the Aveo, G5 and Astra. Without those small cars, Hummer will need to make some drastic changes to get its corporate gas mileage average down to acceptable levels.

"This is just the first step in Hummer's evolution to offer responsible, yet highly capable all-terrain vehicles. Future models will be lighter, more efficient and will continue to offer the best blend of off-road capability and on-road performance," Hummer CEO James Taylor said.

Hopefully Hummer's future plans don't include an influx of car-based crossovers with no off-road capabilities, like the ones that diluted the Jeep brand over the past few years.

Source: Price Wheels Blog