As it turns out, there is still hope for Hummer. The Car Connection reports that there is one more bidder left: Raser Technologies.
As it turns out, there is still hope for Hummer. The Car Connection reports that there is one more bidder left: Raser Technologies.
Automotive News reports that General Motors has killed off Hummer for good. It was previously reported that the sale deadline had been extended until May 1st, but GM seems to have lost its patience and begun an early wind down.
Hummer is being sold to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, and they are making plans for an H4 and H5.
The sale hasn’t yet been finalized though, but the deal is that they will pay $150 million (Which seems like very little for an automotive company to me, but Hummer does only have 2 models, so maybe that’s why) and get most of the intellectual property for Hummer. GM will provide contract manufacturing for current Hummer products until the contract ends, at which point it will be up to the Chinese to work out how to manufacturer the Hummers.
Hummer is working with Austrian consulting firm AVL to determine their future. The idea is to make the brand focus on smaller, lighter, more eco-friendly vehicles, so there will be an H4, which will be smaller than the H3, and an even tinier H5. The H4 will be based on the HX concept car (Pictured at the beginning of this article).
So they’re trying to pretty much reinvent Hummer. Their current image is associated with gas-guzzling monsters, and the Chinese want to focus on eco-friendly vehicles. They’ll be putting a lot of money into changing this image, but I’ll miss the old image, that’s what I like about Hummer. They had the guts to go out there and give an image of gas-guzzling monsters in a time when Greenpeace is telling us all to get into a Prius. I wonder if this new image will mean that they’ll have to axe the enormous H2. That would be even worse, possibly the final nail in the coffin.
Source: Jalopnik