Retail issues aside? Like, um, the fact that GM's pulled the plug on the brand, assuring depreciation that would give a Maserati buyer the Willies? While I have no doubt that Autoblog's Dan Roth would tell us if he had someone in the HUMMER business, I also have no doubt that if he did, that person would be well pleased with Dan's blog on the doomed maker of militaristic SUVs. "Moving product is a tremendous challenge when the bobbleheads on the nightly news continue shrilly about the price of fuel and you've got a lot full of low-mpg, high weight trucks that happen to be a favorite target of vandals euphemistically masquerading as 'activists.' Customers that do make it through the door are looking for deals, and HUMMER will spot you five thousand bucks to take an H3, PLEASE." In other words, it's a great time to buy! "If you've got a boat to pull, and want to look like the Governator, an H2 could still be just the thing, and now you'll be able to find one for a song; most likely the blues." As Dave Edmunds sang, "Everything's wrong but nothing is right."
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Thats how the rich gets richer, scooped up all the goodies when everybody else toss in the towels. Soon as the ebb cycle s over they can sell these fun toys for full profit again.
A H1 or a Phantom III will appeal to the right guy who has very deep pocket.
Should Hummer still have an active Military or even previous Mil contract can Hummer per se can be sold overseas?
Reason I have seen in Military surplus even an old 6.2 diesel engine that was used in some Mil applicaton cannot be sold to non US residents or export. Any old 6×6 truck even dated back to Korean war are inclusives too.
So even if M & M offered >750 mil to GM will the deal be approved ? Also H3 shares the platform will other active models too.
Who is Dave Edmunds?
“Obituary: Melvin Endsley” by Spencer Leigh in The Independent on Aug 23, 2004:
The greatest testimony to Melvin Endsley’s composition “Singing the Blues” is that anyone in any bar could start singing the song and be assured that others would join in. Its melody is playful, inventive and memorable. It is immense fun to sing, and most people do not realise that it is a sad country song.
“Singing the Blues” first topped the US country chart for Marty Robbins before becoming a pop hit for both Guy Mitchell (in both the US and the UK) and Tommy Steele. It went on to become a standard and the hundreds of versions include those by Black Oak Arkansas, Frank Ifield, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul McCartney and Randy Travis. The song returned to the charts via Dave Edmunds in 1980 and Daniel O’Donnell in 1994.
For its size class the H1 is a quite capable off road vehicle.
The H2 and to a lesser extend H3 are bloated pigs off-road.
The IFS limits their utility while the 6k lbs. of curb weight ensues that they will get stuck in mud.
Truly, Hummer lost its way when it quit selling the H1, and instead started selling reworked Suburbans and Colorados. Gas prices are just accelerating that trend.
“High level of style” ???????
I can get that a Maserati Quattroporte exudes style, but a Hummer? They just look big and stupid.
I have never been able to figure out how they became fashionable. Damn strange.
An H3 has won it’s class at the Baja 500 two years now. That’s a stock H3 too. That would make me think it was good off road.
RF- Are you saying that Hummer as a brand is dead or just its relationship with GM and perhaps its name in the US?
I do hope it sticks around long enough for me to buy an H3.
davey49:
RF- Are you saying that Hummer as a brand is dead or just its relationship with GM and perhaps its name in the US?
HUMMER as a brand is dead. (Mahindra & Mahindra ain’t buying it.) It’s toast.
Anyone who buys a HUMMER now is looking at MONUMENTAL depreciation.
FOUR WHEELER constantly runs comparisons of trucks, SUVs and other off-road vehicles. They HIGHLY rate the H3 and it is quite capable.
You can love or hate HUMMER, but it was GM’s only real unique, distinct brand with it’s own image and style that only it could deliver. If GM hadn’t completely blown managing it they could have had a viable competitor to eat Jeep’s lunch.
Jeep will continue on as it has since World War II still selling the direct descendent of the original military vehicle that started at all sporting the same style it has ever since then.
HUMMER didn’t even survive 15 years or so past the Gulf War that founded it and GM neutered the brand when they discontinued selling the H1.
Just like every other brand GM has they destroyed HUMMER.
First Ian Dury now Dave Edmunds. I love this place.
As for Hummer, I’ll always remember that internet video of a H2 in the woods driving over rocks and snapping a control arm (or some other suspension part).
blowfish : “Thats how the rich gets richer, scooped up all the goodies when everybody else toss in the towels. Soon as the ebb cycle s over they can sell these fun toys for full profit again.”
Nobody get rich by buying depreciating assets.
They get rich by buying undervalued appreciating assets like real estate or stocks.”
FOUR WHEELER constantly runs comparisons of trucks, SUVs and other off-road vehicles. They HIGHLY rate the H3 and it is quite capable.
I suspect that how much advertising GM purchases could have something to do with how they treat the products.
I’ll take a $5k beater XJ over an H2 anytime.
I drove an H3 a year or so back offroad on some pretty tough trails (steep rocky ascents and descents with lots of loose stuff), river crossings, etc, and it is very capable offroad. They’ve done a couple of quiet clever little tricks like using the ABS to replicate a proper rear diff-lock (when the computer picks up wheelspin it applies the brake slightly on the tractionless wheel to send power to the wheel with traction).
On the road its as fast as an obese snail.
And offroad chops or not, it’s a very big truck with piss-all interior space, and shocking visbility.
And its looks will always count against it – it makes you look like a rapper/gangsta wannabe, or like you’re trying to hard. Or both. So the handful of pose-jockeys will buy it because they have to, and everyone else will run a mile because they know they’ll look like arses.
A bit like 300C owners.
Jeep’s most popular offroader is the Wrangler. Most people don’t take them offroad. In the meantime, the top comes off. The doors come off. Outdoorsy, fun, young image.
The H3 is Hummer’s best selling vehicle. Most people don’t take them offroad. The top does not come off. The doors do not come off. Has commercials of moms getting pushed aside at the playground then going and buying one to feel like less of a loser.
I wonder that if Hummer had intro’ed the H3 first, maybe they would not have such a negative stigma attached to their brand. Then again, their marketing seems to say “I was a wimp but now I drive an H3 so now I’m not”, and I don’t know who exactly that would appeal to.
rpenna- Isn’t the Liberty Jeep’s most popular vehicle?
I would also guess that more Wranglers get taken off road than any other 4X4, SUV, or Truck.
Unfortunately, off roading is easier said than done and just turning off the highway into the dirt usually results in either gunshots or being arrested.
RF- OK, I kind of hope that HUMMER as a brand is dead because I would like to see the H3 turned into the new Chevy Blazer.