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Hummer is dead and gone, but the activist group CodePink wants one more poke at the ungainly H2. The burned out body of a Hummer H2 (and no one's saying how it was burned) was lowered into the ground in Detroit today. The portion of the SUV left sticking out of the ground will be painted pink (reportedly to symbolize peace) and made into a landscape planter. Small shrubs and flowers will be in attendance.
The H2 planter is CodePink's entry in the Heidelberg Project, which brings together discarded objects to create installation art on the east side of Detroit. We're all for art and all, but seeing an H2 decorated with flowers -- flowers that it would have trampled in its living years -- feels wrong.
Photo: Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
Just in case you thought there might be some last ditch effort to save Hummer, you can now forget it. The lights have been officially shut off by GM. Dealers will be getting letters any day now notifying them that their franchise agreements will end soon.
GM is also offering huge rebates in an attempt to sell off the remaining Hummer inventory. We always thought that H3T was a cool vehicle, now might be a good time to get one.
Hummer has received a temporary stay of execution, or at least the 153 remaining Hummer dealers have, as General Motors has extended their franchise agreements for another 60 days, Automotive News reports. The reason? More offers have come in, it seems, since the deal with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd. collapsed earlier this week.
The Hummer leadership now has until May 1 to find a buyer for Hummer, or portions of it.
"The next step in the process is to sit down with those interested parties and figure out who is serious and who just doesn't make any sense," Hummer CEO Jim Taylor told AN. "Some are well-known equity houses, who do this for a living. Some are just those who say, 'I want to buy it.'"
Reuters is reporting that four more Chinese manufacturers have entered a bid. None are mainstream automakers, say sources close to GM, and none are likely to be interested in buying all of Hummer. Instead, they might be interested in only tooling and equipment from the brand's Shreveport, Louisiana, production plant.
Still, nothing's a sure bet, as the Tengzhong deal is thought to have fallen apart due to objections from the Chinese government, and other companies may be loath to challenge the government. In addition, Hummer's product portfolio really isn't any better a fit for the Chinese market than it was for the United States.
Oh, dang! Think we might have jinxed this one. In a post yesterday about GM's successful completion of the deal to sell Saab to Spyker, we listed a number of the General's earlier failures to close deals for its other doomed brands. We ended that with what we thought was an innocent: "And who knows what will end up happening with Hummer."
Well, one day later, we know: Hummer is dead. The drawn-out negotiations with the enticingly named Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd.are over. GM said in a statement today that the Chinese company was "unable to complete the acquisition of Hummer," and that it will begin the "orderly wind-down of...operations." No further details were provided but word is that the deal was ultimately doomed by the Chinese government.
General Motors pointed out that it will, of course, continue to honor Hummer warranties, providing service and spare parts to current owners.
We've been patiently waiting for Mr. Attitude himself, Robby Gordon, to do something more spectacular than this since Dakar started almost two weeks ago, but so far...nothing. This little display of testosterone happened on the Dakar start ramp before he even hit the stages. Forgive the amateur-photographer-in-the-crowd camera shake, but it does capture the moment. A longer, more civilized version after the jump.
Curious whether the new 2010 Honda Accord has an optional neck massager? How about the tow rating on the Ford F-150? And what about those European cars, they're always adding some new totally nonessential technological "feature."
Now there's an easy way to find out. Our 2010 Buyer's Guide lists every model change from every manufacturer. From colors to options to full redesigns, it's all there.
Sitting in the middle of the GM booth at SEMA is Robby Gordon's Hummer H3 Dakar racer. This tube-frame, carbon-fiber-bodied beast uses a LS7 V8 and sequential gearbox to drive the rear wheels. And it looks utterly bad ass.
Gordon's third place finish in this year's event means he's a real contender for the 2010 edition which starts on January 1.
More photos after the jump.
It's been in the works for some time and now it's finally official. General Motors has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell its Hummer brand to Tengzhong, a Chinese industrial company.
According to GM's statement, it will continue to build both the H2 and the H3 for the new owners until June of 2011. An optional 12-month extension could push production well into 2012.
The statement also noted that the new company is exploring the possibility of a diesel-powered H3 to sell in markets outside the U.S. Reducing fuel consumption will be one of the new company's goals moving forward.
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
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.
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
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.
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?"
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?
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."
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.
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
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."
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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