Hummer Guy

A Hong Kong toy company now has to pay Hummer 1.3 million US dollars for selling the trademarked Hummer in American Kmart and Toys-r-us stores. The Hong Kong company announced that “extensive legal action will be taken, using all possible means, in the case of encroachment on intellectual property rights.” Good luck–I’m pretty sure Hummer has the upper hand in this one

Rent-a-car company Avis announced they’re going to ad the new Hummer H3 to some of their rent-a-car markets. The decision came after customers requested more ‘fun’ vehicles to drive.

This isn’t new info, but the Washington Times just had an article about the upgrades for the 2006 Hummer H1 Alpha. I drove an H1 Alpha Wagon earlier today–The biggest difference I noticed was the sound of the engine. The new Duramax is slightly more subtle (if there is such a thing as ’subtle’ for a 6.6 liter turbo-charged diesel). It seems more driver comfort controls are moving away from the doors to the center console, and the gear/transfer-case shifters are smaller and less ‘lever-like’ (if you know the older models, you’ll know what i’m talking about) Overall, Beautiful truck–not sure I’ll have the 140 grand any time soon, though…

A Romanian company which manufactures the Cross Lander 244x–dubbed the “Poor Man’s Hummer“–is trying to get their $20,000 product into the US market–without much success. They’ve failed to meet the US safety regulations, and production has just about stopped. This just may be the best vehicle out of eastern Europe since the Yugo…

GM spends about $3.2 billion a year in branding and advertising, and is now starting a new branding technique (Which is good, since even GM said their biggest problem was all their vehicle lines were starting to look alike). Part of their new strategy is to come out with words or phrases to coincide w/ each brand’s image. Hummer’s is “daring” – a little more edgy than Caddy’s “Expressive Value”…

They are calling the new Batmobile the “Bat Hummer“… no idea why. Does that look like a Hummer to you?

The latest scam, according to USA Today, is to cover up the fact that a vehicle is stolen by changing its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to a legitimate one that is registered someplace else. The article describes a couple in Warsaw, Indiana (just an hour away from Mishawaka, home of the Hummer), who found out their shiny new Hummer had actually been stolen in Canada and disguised with a phony VIN.

The vehicle had been stolen from a Quebec airport, and was eventually purchased at an auto auction by a dealer. The dealer then sold it to a local couple. The pair now has to deal with the fact that their $47K truck is stolen merchandise. The theft was confirmed when National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) investigators ripped off door panels and broke the windshield to expose well-hidden VINs that showed the vehicle’s true origin.

Hummer fans may have questioned last year’s J.D. Power and Associates survey which ranked Hummer dead last for quality, but they might like this year’s survey better. According to Autoweek, Hummer was the most improved brand in the 2005 quality rankings. Hummer defects dropped from 173 to 110 per 100 vehicles, tying it for tenth place overall and sliding it into the “better than average” category. Hummer beat brands like Honda, Nissan, and Toyota’s Scion in the quality ranking. Hummer finished ahead of off-road competitors Jeep and Land Rover, who came in at 120 and 149 problems per 100 vehicles.

According to the article, Hummer’s scores improved this year on 76 of the 135 attributes, but its score on fuel economy was unchanged. (Surprised?) Hummer’s big leap upwards in quality was par for the course at General Motors in 2005 - GM claimed top honors in five vehicle segments.

Overall, this is great news for Hummer - for a nearly new brand to beat out established Japanese lines like Honda and Nissan is fantastic.

Hi, welcome to HummerGuy.net - a place for Hummer owners (and Hummer-owner-wannabes!) to hang out and share ideas on what’s happening in the world of Hummers.

I’m Brian Dooley - I’ve been a Hummer fan for years. I started off driving Hummers as an off-road instructor at Hummer University. HU was a program held close to the Mishawaka Hummer factory to teach dealer staff and salespeople Hummer specs and capabilities.

Last year, I spent the summer as an instructor at the Nemacolin Woodlands Off Road Academy. Nemacolin was a great place to experience Hummer Driving - 600 acres of woods, with 20 miles of trails, plus a man-made obstacle course to take Hummers to their limit.

Now, I’m in sales at Sewell Hummer in Dallas, the best place to look for Hummers in northern Texas (or maybe anywhere, for that matter!). Drop me a line at brian@hummerguy.com, or give me a call at (214) 350-2000.