Is they is, or is they ain't? According to The Detroit News, Hummer's general manager, Martin Walsh told dealers that The General "never solicited offers and we have not negotiated with any parties" re: selling the company's eco-nightmare brand. However, "GM did receive expressions of interest from various entities." According to Walsh, reports that GM has talked with Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata and Russian Machines are "just speculation." However, Citigroup's Hummer review "is being conducted with the utmost urgency." So, Hummer sales are down 44 percent year to date. On June 3, Rick Wagoner said GM's reviewing Hummer for possible revamping or sale. They hired accountants to do the review. GM's received unsolicited interest in the brand from rapidly growing companies with a strong presence in the international truck market. GM needs cash. It looks like there's a much more sound basis for all the "speculation" about selling than there is for GM's dismissal of same. Just sayin'.
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At this rate, GM might as well sell the Hummer brand to the folks who build the electric H2 golf carts. They wouldn’t get much money for it, though.
I’m going to be the lonely voice in the wilderness and say that GM should keep Hummer. It is the only, only division with a clear brand identity.
It would be one of the few times that GM isn’t seen as heeing and hawing over something, and at least show to someone that there’s some consistency at the top, even if the opposite is in fact true.
In short, with all the resources that GM has put into Hummer, and the success that the division has had in eating a good portion of Jeep’s lunch, it would be a travesty to dump it as unceremoniously as it did other divisions.
Yes, I know the environment and gas prices are all the rage now, and we are (likely) entering a new paradigm, but who says Hummer ever had to sell in copious quantites to be viable? The question you really have to ask is “is it fielding competitive products vis a vis the Wrangler, the FJ Cruiser, et al?” If not, then Hummer has a problem and GM should deal with it as they see fit.
There will always be politically incorrect vehicles cruising around. GM will have done itself no favours PR-wise by unloading Hummer now.
I agree with 86er. With the right management HUMMER could be GM’s Jeep, “right management” being the key terms. It is GM’s most unique and was once their strongest and most profitable brand.
I would rather see them keep it and carefully nurture it than continuing GMC or building an endless amount of rebadged crossovers, trucks and SUVS for all their other brands.
GM’s big mistake with it was taking it too mainstream and discontinuing H1 sales while not offering a direct Wrangler competitor.
Sadly, I don’t think GM has the right mindset or people to make HUMMER successful again. Just like Chrysler is now watering down Jeep into oblivion with cars and vehicles that shouldn’t be wearing the name.
What is a Hummer supposed to be anyhow?
Is it a “no compromise” off-roader like Jeep (ignore the Compass)?
Is it a “luxury off-roader” like Range Rover?
Is it a “rolling middle finger” like many people see it as?
Some actual brand focus would be nice. That H3T actually looks like a decent machine, but it would be far more desirable with a hose-out interior instead of leather. The Wrangler has always been a hit thanks to the availability of an available “stripper” variant.
The H2 needs to be killed or updated.
The H1 needs to be brought back to bring Hummer’s off-road cred back.
Oh my God they are going to screw this one up too!
It seems GM “never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity….”(apologies to Henry Kissinger for the quote stealling).
Environment actually isn’t the buzz these days. We’re going to slightly lower our concern fo the enviro to drill fo mo oil. And don’t ferget the “Nuculeer” push as well.
Hummer certainly wan’t the most fuel efficient mode of transportation but not nearly as bad a a Ford V-10 4WD Excursion. H2 gets about 10-12 driven conservatively and the Exclusion could do about 1 – 3 less. So see Petunia!!!?
It aint all THAT bad!!!
“reviewing Hummer for possible revamping or sale”
I’d like to hear their fantasies for revamping. And I’d like to hear it from Lutz. Since a sale seems to be unlikely, maybe it’ll happen. Or maybe it’ll just wither along with the dealers.
Environment actually isn’t the buzz these days.
Are you kidding me? If it wasn’t the buzz, then you wouldn’t see so many greenwashing efforts not just in the auto industry, but in fashion, technology, politics. Just about everywhere. Now more than ever, it’s cool to be environmentally-friendly.
Maybe the reason GM is trying to sell Hummer is because it is worth much more than other brands? Who would want to buy Pontiac or Saturn or Saab? For these brands they would need to organize a garage sale to get rid of them…
Comparing the Excursion where you could almost fit another small SUV in there versus the cramped and tiny H2 interior is a joke. Not the same interior size. GM’s H2 is a Tahoe with a look alike H1 type body on it – so little interior space for the size and weight. Getting 1-2 mpg more doesn’t give it credit for only having the interior space of a mid size car based wagon.
Hummer has an actual brand identity – its SUV image and a facade of wealth (I’d bet most who bought an H2 or H3 couldn’t really afford them) – though with little functionality to those who own them. Saab has potential to sell b/c it still has mfgr capacity that can be sold off with it and a chance to rekindle its roots.
All other brands are poison if they try to segregate them from the GM mothership. You can’t do it – only way to off load them is to kill them off. GM’s too poor to be able to do that – so they’ll need bankruptcy to overcome the state’s franchise laws and pay them off with pennies on the dollar.
All this really means is that GM probably won’t admit they’re going to sell Hummer until they have a signed check in hand. All things considered, I’m not sure I blame them — if you find someone willing to let you unload a white elephant, do you really want to risk their getting spooked by bitchy press reaction?
While Hummer may have fairly good branding focus by GM standards, I think the brand itself is flawed, although it’s not exactly GM’s fault.
Jeep works because a Jeep is emblematic of the good ol’ days, when we fought that universal enemy, the Nazis. Sure, now they’re mostly big, poorly built land yachts, but the Wrangler is still there to remind everyone that they helped make the US the country it is now…or was.
The HMMWV, on the other hand, has a very different image. Now, I don’t want to start a political fight, and I don’t mean any disrespect to any soldiers, but it’s a vehicle that’s now symbolic of a war a lot of people hate, and of course it’s fairly consistently in the news for being an ungainly deathtrap.
All of this, of course, transfers over to Hummer.
Now, if they can make an honest off-road vehicle that’s not overloaded with luxury items and bling, they might be able to overcome this image, or at the least get sales from the people that don’t care about image but want to be able to hose out their truck.
Unfortunately, they seem to like this bad image, and so cultivate it with “Look at me, I’m badass” styling. That market has been on its way out for a while, so they’d better hurry up and figure out something a bit more practical.
Just because Jeep has worked well for Chysler does not mean that Hummer will work (as it has NOT) well for GM.
I think the point folks are missing is America does NOT need (nor did it ask for) another “Jeep” type brand of dedicated off-road vehicles that will NOT be driven off road.
Hummers and most Jeep purchases are irrational. These vehicles sell on image and they generally sell once to a fool who has no understanding of what a real 4×4 vehicles is and the many drawbacks of driving and owning one. For the vast majority of wannabe poser owners, all it takes is one flat tire and the love affair with their “rugged image improver device” is over.
With the exception of “real” off-road drivers Jeeps and Hummers are one time purchases generally made by folks that did not “think it though” before they wrote the check. They buy once get pissed and quickly spread the word.
This has been the case since the CJ turn into the wrangler in the 1980s. Jeep pretty much has that niche covered and if GM had done some REAL research they could have figured that out before they dump how many millions or billions into the whole Hummer/ GM project.
There’s only 168 Hummer dealers in the nation and GM’s buy out of the dealers has already begun.
Considering GM only has licensing to the name, and not AM General, I think we can pretty much call Hummer toast.
’09 is the last year of the H2.
The rest of the inventory as well as the dealers will be phased out.
First hand knowledge.
It sounds like GM hasn’t had any viable (or any) offers for Hummer, so they’re backtracking to try to salvage sales until they figure out how to unload it. It’s obviously a matter of when, not if, at this point.
I’ve said this before and so I’ll repeat it: Hummer should never have been a separate brand. Instead its models should have been badged as GMCs, whose whole design language should have changed to accommodate the additions. Then GMC wouldn’t have been just rebadged Chevys.
But my business degree is in Marketing, not accounting like the toads running GM, so that makes too much sense, eh?
Is the H4 dead now too? It looked like an interesting Wrangler fighter….
What is Hummer ?.
A “rolling middle finger” is about as close to reality as anything. Hummers have become status symbols for people that want to appear more macho than Escalade drivers. I have NEVER seen a Hummer out on the streets with mud or dirt on it’s body. Most of the Hummers I’ve seen are pimped out with lots of chrome wheels and bling. 1/3 of the time I see them being driven by women. About as close as any of them come to “off-road” is going over the speed bumps at the local mall.
Where is the two mode hybrid H4? That would be such a hit.
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