HUMMER Straightline Blog on Edmunds' Inside Line

June 26, 2009

GM Announces Closure of Louisiana Plant; Hummer Sale in Jeopardy

General Motors has announced that it will close its Shreveport, Louisiana plant by 2012. The plant currently builds the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon pickups along with the Hummer H3 SUV which utilizes the same platform.

When a deal was announced to sell Hummer to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd., it appeared as though GM would continue to supply the H3 to the new owners. Now reports out of China are questioning whether the deal will go through as the Chinese government is not thrilled with the idea of a small private company dipping its hand into the production of Hummer-badged vehicles.

AutoObserver: GM To Close Louisiana Truck Plant

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Posted by: Ed Hellwig June 26, 2009, 6:34 AM
Categories: Auto Industry, Chevrolet, GMC, General Motors, HUMMER, SUVs, Trucks

June 2, 2009

GM Announces Sale of Hummer to Chinese Machinery Co.

It's official: Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire the Hummer brand from GM.

The privately-owned heavy equipment manufacturer plans to keep the existing Hummer dealer network and executive team in the U.S.

Future plans includes an expansion of the lineup and additional availability in world markets. The deal is expected to be finalized this fall.

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Posted by: Ed Hellwig June 2, 2009, 1:46 PM
Categories: Auto Industry, General Motors, HUMMER

Hummer Lives On as GM Finally Finds a Buyer

After an exhaustive search, General Motors has finally found a buyer for its struggling Hummer SUV brand.

GM released few details about the transaction, saying only that it signed a memorandum of understanding with an outside company. GM also noted that it will continue to build Hummer SUVs for the new owner until at leat 2010.

AutoObserer: GM Has Buyer for Hummer

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Posted by: Ed Hellwig June 2, 2009, 7:22 AM
Categories: Auto Industry, HUMMER, SUVs

April 27, 2009

Production of Saturn and Hummer Models Could End This Year

In this morning's press conference, GM CEO Fritz Henderson said that the company doesn't anticipate building any Hummer or Saturn vehicles beyond 2009.

Sounds dire, but the situation could change in either case if new owners decide they want to contract with GM for additional production. Saturn in particular has said it will try to restart itself as an independent company and contract with GM to build the current lineup until it completes its lifecyle in two or three years.

Future owners of the Hummer brand could theoretically do the same, especially given the fact that the current Hummer models are based on GM truck platforms that aren't expected to change much in the next several years.

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Posted by: Ed Hellwig April 27, 2009, 7:24 AM
Categories: General Motors, HUMMER, Saturn

March 6, 2009

Is Anybody Really Interested in Buying Saturn? Hummer? Saab?

Seems hard to believe that any company would be interested in buying a failing automaker given the current market conditions. Yet, in one news story after another, company officials from GM and others claim to have willing bidders for their in-market brands.

AutoObserver columnist Bill Visnic has compiled a list of these claims, and taken together they're no more convincing that they are by themselves. You buying any of it?

AutoObserver: Buyers, Buyers Everywhere - Or is That "Interested Parties?"

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Posted by: Ed Hellwig March 6, 2009, 10:10 AM
Categories: Auto Industry, General Motors, HUMMER, Saab, Saturn

December 26, 2008

2009 Chevy Colorado V8

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Is this truck another case of "too little, too late?" The current Colorado I-5 engine okay, but it's nothing to get your blood boiling; worse still, power-hungry small truck customers felt the same way, and have stayed away from Chevy (and GMC) dealers in droves. Shouldn't this V8-powered version debuted when this current generation Colorado was announced a few years ago?

When it was announced that the Hummer H3 was getting a 5.3L V8 option, it was also (unofficially) confirmed that the Colorado would also get that engine. No one, however, figured on the financial industry collapse, and the resulting domino effect it would have on the auto and other industries. So will this be a savior for this truck line, or just another example of a great idea coupled to miserable timing?

Full story here.

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Posted by: Bob Holland December 26, 2008, 4:00 AM
Categories: Chevrolet, GMC, General Motors, HUMMER, Trucks

November 19, 2008

Honeycomb tire is bulletproof

While originally developed for the military, this honeycomb tire could be the future, in that you would never need to have a spare. Yeah, they would have to put some sort of 'skin' on the sidewalls so that the honeycombs don't clog up with mud or snow--a huge issue if you go off-roading. Also wind noise and aero-efficiency are likely to be problems with such a tire as it currently is shown.

This tire was developed because the military wants an alternative to the current Humvee "run flat" tires. The current run-flats, despite the name, still need some air pressure, and can blown out via gun fire.

"You see reports all the time of troops who were injured by an IED or their convoys got stranded because their tires were shot out," said Resilient's General Manager Mike Veih. "There's all sorts of armor on the vehicle, but if you're running in the theater and get your tire shot out, what have you got? You've got a bunch of armor in the middle of a field."

The tire was developed by Resilient Technologies and Wisconsin-Madison's Polymer Engineering Center. They studied other airless tires, like the Michelin "Tweel," but in the end settled on this design. The patent-pending design mimics the precise, six-sided cell pattern found in a honeycomb and best duplicates the "ride feel" of pneumatic tires, according to the developers.

"The goal was to reduce the variation in the stiffness of the tire, to make it transmit loads uniformly and become more homogenous," said mechanical engineering professor Tim Osswald. "And the best design, as nature gives it to us, is really the honeycomb."

Full story here.

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Posted by: Bob Holland November 19, 2008, 5:29 AM
Categories: Car Tech, HUMMER

October 20, 2008

A Hummer for Jessie James

Hummer wooden wheels 555.jpg

Yeah, I'd stare too if I saw this creature. It's "Hummer Art." Not sure if this will spawn a new school of art as did Monet and company with Impressionism, but I guess it could. We've already seen various takes on the famous Cadillac Ranch (here), so why not a few spin-offs based on this theme?

At any rate, as you can see, it's a Hummer with wooden wheels, clearly giving it a wild-west feeling about it. And yes, it is art, as it's being displayed outside Royal Academy of Arts in London as part of the Zoo Art Fair 2008 which runs from 17-20 October.

Full story here.

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Posted by: Bob Holland October 20, 2008, 4:00 AM
Categories: HUMMER, SUVs, Trends

September 5, 2008

Prius hatred growing

It's no secret that Hummers are the poster vehicles for bad behavior. Heck, if I put up a post on a Hummer here on Straightline, the resulting comments are almost always negative. There have even been cases of Eco-Nazis vandalizing Hummers (not by Straightline followers, of course), or any vehicle that exudes mucho-machoismo.

Now it appears Hummer-lovers and other like-minded are fighting back. Literally. In fact the Toyota Pruis has become the anti-Hummer object of hate to many. Actually this (Prius vandalism) is not a new movement, as it's been going on for some time. What is new is that it appears to be gaining ground among vehicular Neanderthals across the planet.

Here's Green Car Advisor's take: Prius Envy or Hybrid Hatred? Something Is Fueling Attacks on Toyota's Mileage Star

Here's Inside Line's take: Violence Against Prius Hybrids Hits All-Time High

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Posted by: Bob Holland September 5, 2008, 8:57 AM
Categories: HUMMER, Hybrids, SUVs, Toyota, Trends

September 4, 2008

Hummer expected to be sold by early next year

GM has several suitors from the Middle East interested in the Hummer brand. The General lost $51 billion over the last three years, and is hoping to get at least $15 billion as a result of selling assets and cutting costs.

"We are trying to approach this (Hummer sale) on an urgent basis," states COO Fritz Henderson. "End of this year is a fair amount of time. It can conceivably happen ... but if it takes us to early next year, that is okay, too."

Full story here.

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Posted by: Bob Holland September 4, 2008, 4:00 AM
Categories: Auto Industry, General Motors, HUMMER, SUVs, Trucks

July 16, 2008

GM's future products to have a Euro-flavor according to Bob Lutz

boblutz.260.jpg

No sooner had GM CEO Rick Wagoner delivered the sobering news regarding GM cuts, Bob Lutz was right there to confirm that there is a lot of life left in what we can expect from the General in terms of future products. More to the point, the recently rumored cutting of brands was not a part of the discussion. Nope, all the current brands are to remain in place according to Lutz.

The biggest change that we can expect is that products from GM (and other vehicle makers too) will have a decidedly European/international flavor to them. That means less trucks--and the trucks that do remain will be smaller and more efficient. Expect more smaller cars and fewer cars with big V8s. No longer will the American car market be different from that of Europe and elsewhere.

"This is a difficult transition but once the transition is made, it's going to ease our problem of no longer having to produce unique vehicles for the American market," Lutz said. "In the future, anything we create worldwide is available to use to either import or produce in the U.S."

For a quick glance as to what's in store, check out AutoObserver's editorial:

GM: Remapping for a More Euro-Style Vehicle Landscape

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Posted by: Bob Holland July 16, 2008, 4:00 AM
Categories: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, General Motors, HUMMER, Saturn

June 24, 2008

Hummer sales nosedive

There are several clichés that could be used here, but the one that first comes to mind is the "higher you climb, the harder you fall." To say that Hummer sales have fallen is an understatement. I'm not sure what the best word for a 60 percent sales decline would be, but "nosedive" is the best that I can think of at the moment.

Speaking of Hummer, GM has hired Citibank to evaluate offers from those wanting to buy the Hummer brand. So, that appears to be the direction GM is headed; that is, selling the brand, rather than revamping it...

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