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Hummer to Close Down
General Motors has announced its intention to shut down the Hummer brand after its planned sale to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines collapsed.
The off-road brand looks set to join Saturn and Pontiac on the scrap heap of failed GM brands.
The only hope for Hummer would be a surprise last minute bidder, such as Spyker's rescue of Saab, but that seems unlikely at this stage. Hummer sales have continued to slump amid the financial crisis and rising fuel prices.
"One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest HUMMER, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward," explained John Smith, GM vice president of corporate planning and alliances. "We have since considered a number of possibilities for HUMMER along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed.
"GM will now work closely with HUMMER employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner," said Smith.
The company has declared it will honour all Hummer warranties as well as providing parts and services to existing owners around the world.
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I never really liked the family market Hummers. H2 and H3s were expensive, poorly equipped and poorly made for their price brackets in Australia (H2s only being available from specialist importers didn't help) but it will be the chance of H1s ever being sold to the civilian market again that I will really miss. A H1 was possibly the most ridiculous car anyone could buy who lived in the city or suburbia but they were amazing to see and cost enough to insure they were a rarity... in Australia anyway.
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[quote=VOGUE_MAN;927833] A H1 was possibly the most ridiculous car anyone could buy who lived in the city or suburbia but they were amazing to see and cost enough to insure they were a rarity... in Australia anyway.[/quote]
This anywhere, to be frank. Especially in comparison to the Merc G-Class.
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Not surprising, since it was a fad car. It's much worse of a fad car than the new VW Beetle. Seriously, how many of those do you still see around?
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yeah, im not sure upset about it either. and i am pretty certain that this will not affect AM General and their production of the HMMWV for the military, although it is going to be replaced in the military as well.
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^ Yea, It's days are numbered. Military moving on to other vehicles, and the public not buying them... They have zero market now. The military was their biggest purchaser, and now that they are moving on, they don't stand a chance into the future.
Surprisingly, I do see quite a few hummers driving around here. I was on the highway yesterday, and I counted dozens of them (New) driving by or parked in driveways/ parking lots. I guess the rich around here are the 'lots of money, no brains' type. :)
Note: I also see way to many VW Beetles as well. There's even a computer company (Geek Squad) That has a whole fleet of Beetles. [url=http://www.geeksquad.ca/home.asp]Geek Squad Canada[/url]
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[quote=cmcpokey;927886]yeah, im not sure upset about it either. and i am pretty certain that this will not affect AM General and their production of the HMMWV for the military, although it is going to be replaced in the military as well.[/quote]
Even then, they've switched to MRAPs now. I'm not sure when they'll phase out the Hummers. It's curious, why did they design Hummers with little to no armor anyway? Did they expect not to get shot at or blown up in something called war?
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Good riddance, although it is a damn shame all these brands are just going to disappear, that's sad in a way.Especially all the factory workers who will lose their jobs and not get them back. However, Hummer's are unnecessary for the most part, especially to the people you typically see driving them. Reminds me of this [ame="http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/13332/"]family guy hummer Video[/ame]
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[quote=NSXType-R;927897]Even then, they've switched to MRAPs now. I'm not sure when they'll phase out the Hummers. It's curious, why did they design Hummers with little to no armor anyway? Did they expect not to get shot at or blown up in something called war?[/quote]
MRAPS are large trucks and not designed for the cross country jaunts the Humvee was. for it's real replacement check out the M-ATV, which is smaller than the MRAP, but has a similar design. When you look at the purpose of the Humvee you see why it was designed the way it was. it was built in a time when we were still preparing for a large scale conventional war. troops would be on the front lines in armor, and would follow in the lightly or unarmored trucks and Humvees. they were designed to replace jeeps which were small, maneuverable, and had no sense of armor. the army didn't really plan on conducting large scale, opposed urban patrols. the concept of war has drastically shifted in the last 8 years, and like all outdated equipment, it needs to be replaced.
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although the H2 was taken from GM parts bins, it was a very capable vehicle nothing short of an off road vehicle. the H3 i can't say that much for.
i would love to take an H1 off road.
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This is very good news. I hated that SUV.
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Of the three brands GM has shut down in the past year or so, Hummer is the only one I'm not sorry to see go.
Losing Pontiac was a damn shame, and Saturn had the potential to be really interesting, but Hummer never really established itself properly. Sure, they were capable, but look at the type of people who actually bought them. They were more often flaunted as gaudy status symbols then they were used as all-purpose mountain goats. I have nothing against the idea of cars as status symbols, but the Hummer rapidly became a caricature of what it was meant to be. In some ways, it represents a lot of what was wrong with America in the past decade. Good riddance.
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Woho. This might be the only time ill be happy for a car maker to close!
Hummer never deserved to be build for any other reason than military.
But what will happened with Robby Gordon in Dakar?
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[quote=Brix;927926]But what will happened with Robby Gordon in Dakar?[/quote]
Change of body and off he goes. Probably.