BF2S Forums End of the road for the Hummer

"It has achieved notoriety as the mother of all petrol-guzzlers, first developed for the US military, then taken up by celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger before he renounced it on environmental grounds. But the Hummer has run out of road.

General Motors, the struggling car company, announced that it will wind down production of its Hummer SUV line after a deal to sell the brand to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery fell through.

"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," said John Smith, GM's vice-president of corporate planning and alliances.

"GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."

Hummers were originally built by AM General. GM bought the brand from AM in 1999. They became a status symbol of the road when Schwarzenegger became the first owner of one in 1992 after persuading manufacturers to make a civilian version. Six years later, the actor-turned-governor ditched his $950,000 (£615,000) fleet of Hummers because they hardly conformed to his new image as eco-warrior.

Hummers emit three times more carbon dioxide than a normal car and eke out just 14 miles to the gallon in city driving.

Other Hummer owners have included David Beckham and Paris Hilton, but Schwarzenegger in particular could hardly be seen to own one after the state of California decided to sue Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Chrysler and GM over emissions.

Hummer is the second brand after Saturn that GM has failed to sell as part of its restructuring. GM sold Swedish brand Saab to Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars NV earlier this year and is discontinuing Pontiac. The Detroit company is concentrating its efforts on its four remaining brands: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick.

Hummer's military version, the Humvee, may have reached the end of the desert track as well. The US army provided no new money for the Humvee in its recent budget proposal."

Last edited by ruisleipa (2010-02-25 00:30:56)