GM pulls plug on original Hummer

[280Z Turbo]

The GM-ification is complete. Muhahahaha!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/05/12/hummer.reut/index.html



GM pulls plug on original Hummer
Citing weak sales, automaker says the last civilian model of H1 will roll off assembly line in June, but notes H2 and H3 model will still be built.


DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. said Friday it will stop building the gas-guzzling Hummer H1 truck, a military-style status symbol with poor sales, and focus its resources instead on better-selling vehicles.

The last H1s, which get about 10 miles per gallon, will roll out in June, the automaker said. The H1 is the foundation for GM's Hummer brand.

"We are discounting it because it's a low volume niche vehicle and we will dedicate our resources now to produce smaller-sized and higher-volume vehicles for Hummer," said Dayna Hart, GM spokeswoman for the Hummer brand.

GM (Research) sold 374 H1s in 2005, down 16 percent from 2004.

AM General LLC makes the H1, and also builds the Humvee, the military vehicle on which the truck is based.

AM General will convert all its assembly lines from retail production of the H1 to the building of Humvee models for the military, Hart said, adding that no jobs will be lost.

The H1, GM's biggest and most expensive model, sells for between $130,000 and $140,000.

The world's largest automaker, which lost $10.6 billion in 2005, is in the midst of a broad restructuring to stem losses and adjust itself to a shrinking U.S. market share.

Dissident-turned-director Jerry York, who serves as an adviser to GM's largest individual shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, has criticized management for not moving fast enough into "crisis mode" and in January suggested the automaker eliminate the Saab and Hummer brands.

GM will continue to build the H2 and H3 sport-utility vehicles under the Hummer brand, Hart said.

The H1 was first marketed to the public as the Hummer in 1992 by AM General. Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, was AM General's first civilian customer.

GM bought marketing rights to the Hummer name in 1999 and called it the Hummer H1.

[Tom]

Now Hummer is possibly the most useless car brand.

[ifcar]

Not profits-wise.  

[Tom]

No, not profits-wise.

Wow, check this out.  http://www.sierraclubplus.org/hummerdinger/

[giant_mtb]

Great.  Just great.

[JYODER240]

Oh well, I never plan on buying one anyway.

[Atomic]

Now Hummer is possibly the most useless car brand.

now? i think it always was  :ph34r: !

[Tom]

Now Hummer is possibly the most useless car brand.

now? i think it always was  :ph34r: !

The H1 was the only model that made it worthwhile imo.

[Submariner]

Damnit...if anything the H1 was good for pissing the Sierra club people off.  :D  

[280Z Turbo]

Damnit...if anything the H1 was good for pissing the Sierra club people off.  :D

There's a lot of bad "information" on that website that Tom posted.

[thewizard16]

Now what am I going to buy when I get the mountain top house with a 2 foot deep stream to ford halfway up the "road" ? I'd even thought ahead and built a gas station half-way up the mountain.

More seriously, I couldn't care less, I've always thought that aside from military use and a few extreme situations, the H1 was pointless. Useful in those extreme situations, but pointless. I think the real damage done will be to the Hummer image... the H1 was the anchor in my mind, but I'm sure the people buying H2s and H3s probably won't care.