Death of the Hummer?

The humble Hummer: Subtle

Bad news for those of you who like your vehicles militaristic and completely fuel-inefficient; General Motors has announced they are to 'wind down' operations on its Hummer range, after a takeover by a Chinese firm failed to happen.

The Hummer, originally designed as a military off-road vehicle by AM General, was in the late 90s the off-road vehicle of choice for many a celebrity that cared not about good gas mileage. It was rumoured that Arnold Schwarzenegger had over six...

However, in these economic trying times and when the Hollywood elite prefer hybrids over former-military vehicles, the Hummer has seen sales fall.

General Motors has faced hard time itself during and in the wake of the recession and when it went into bankruptcy, was forced to offload famous names to keep itself afloat.

GM said it was 'disappointed' the deal with the China-based Tengzhong has collapsed.

"GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner," said John Smith, vice-president of corporate planning and alliances.

The firm has stated though, that it will continue to honour Hummer warranties, and provide service support and spare parts to current owners around the world. So good news for the Governator...

Click for a larger view

Poor sales and image

The fact that the Hummer traditionally weights five tonnes and does about 15 miles to the gallon has not served it well it recent years, with people focusing more on greener, more fuel efficient models such as the Prius.

In fact in the US, due to the pure off-road nature of Hummers, dealerships were required by GM to organize a minimum of four off-road events per year in order to push sales.

It was hoped that the deal with Tengzhong, who specialises in making equipment for the road, construction and energy industries, would be able to utilise the Hummer for more 'down and dirty' purposes but Beijing allegedly refused to approve the purchase.

Plans for the Hummer under Tengzhong included focusing on improving efficiency in Hummer models by including the introduction of diesel engines.

So if you still want a vehicle that can drive through 30 inches of water, you'd better hurry up and get one now before they vanish for good.

Relevant articles:

Travelling to work in the US | Has the US hit a 'car saturation' point? | Mr Toyoda goes to Washington

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: