Hummer Guy

It is with a heavy heart that we bring you the latest news from General Motors and HUMMER. On January 1st, General Motors will officially end their sponsorship of Rod Hall Racing and Team HUMMER.

The move isn’t completely unexpected, since GM announced in July that motorsports budgets across the board would be slashed, along with other promotions, salaries, and next generation truck & SUV design programs.

Rod Hall Racing has put two of their vehicles up for sale, including the HUMMER H1 and H2 SUT race trucks. The SUT is a bargain at $79k, considering the extensive build process and its championship reputation.

A spokesperson for Rod Hall Racing confirmed that the two vehicles are currently for sale, and that Rod Hall Racing would maintain ownership of one H2 and the two championship H3s for future racing. Rod Hall Racing’s 2009 race season will include Vegas to Reno, and at least one Baja race.

If HUMMER finds a new owner, they could very well pick up the sponsorship and continue the winning legacy that Rod Hall Racing built with Team HUMMER. If you’re interested in purchasing a piece of Team HUMMER’s Legacy, check out the sale pages for the H1 and H2 SUT.

HUMMER enthusiasts in Singapore will soon be able to purchase their dream vehicles. After a lengthy approval process, the Land Transport Company in Singapore has signed off on the smaller HUMMER H3 model. Some locals are eager to get their hands on the H3 for the off-road capability, and many are just looking for something different on the roads. The demand in Singapore is high, though – some customers have been waiting over a year for the first vehicles to arrive.

For those following stateside, increased demand overseas means a better chance at a prosperous future for HUMMER!

Source: asiaone

In a press conference Friday, General Motors’ COO Fritz Henderson announced that more information on the HUMMER brand would be coming sometime in the first quarter of 2009.

Henderson said that talks continue with “interested parties,” and that early next year GM will know “if there is a deal here or if we need to go down a different path.” Though GM has not disclosed any of the interested parties, there have been rumors about interested companies and individuals all over the world:

India: Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata

Russia: Oleg Deripaska of Russian Machines

Middle East: Two Gulf Arab Investors

China & United States: Changfeng Motors with AM General

If you’ve been keeping up, everyone besides the Gulf Arab Investors have denied any interest in purchasing the HUMMER brand, and they weren’t even identified by name. AM General’s denial was the most recent.

Some say that the right time to make a purchase from General Motors will be in a couple months rather than right now. After receiving $13 billion in government loans, GM says it’s accelerating their restructuring plan. The increased pressure on GM could drive down the price of the HUMMER brand as their three month transformation deadline draws nearer. This could work in the favor of potential buyers, since no company out there needs the HUMMER brand to survive, but GM needs the boost in liquidity and brand reduction to make good with the U.S. Government.

Earlier this week it was reported that AM General and China based Changfeng were considering a joint venture to purchase the HUMMER brand from General Motors. Yesterday, a spokesperson for AM General told a local news station the report was false, and that no agreement had been reached and talks were not ongoing.

We believe that these are the possible scenarios in order of their likelihood:

1) AM General, like many companies, would like to keep their possible interest low-key in order to secure the best price for the brand in the next few months.

2) AM General has some interest in purchasing a stake in the HUMMER brand, and will begin talks with Changfeng or another company after the start of the year, making AM General’s statement technically true, though misleading.

3) AM General isn’t telling their spokesperson, and the GM of Changfeng wasn’t supposed to say anything publically.

4) AM General has no interest in HUMMER, since they have more important things to worry about like a $17 million HUMVEE contract and building taxi cabs.

Time will tell, but as predicted, it will be an interesting few months in the HUMMER world.

At first glance, a comparison between the new 2009 HUMMER H3T and Nissan’s new super-fast GT-R may seem a bit odd, but that didn’t stop the team at Automobile Magazine from putting the two head-to-head. The challenge was to get from point A to point B, with the GT-R taking the longer, smoother, paved route and the H3T taking the shorter, rougher, unpaved route a la Dukes of Hazard.

Here’s how they described picking the HUMMER H3T as their off-road competitor.

For the four-by-four, we settle on the new Hummer H3T Alpha. Before you begin formulating your anti-Hummer letter to the editor, allow me to remind you that the object of this exercise is to traverse 50 miles of rugged mountain trails without getting stuck, breaking down, or puncturing a tire, all while driving as fast as possible. And the H3T Alpha has available 33-inch off-road tires, underbody skid plates as thick as manhole covers, and locking differentials front and rear. Also, the Alpha packs a 300-hp V-8, which means that the H3 finally has something in common with hundreds of thousands of other trucks and SUVs that somehow don’t incite the same radical-conservationist urge to firebomb dealerships.

Be sure to check out the entire amusing adventure over at Automobile Magazine. As for who won, the GT-R reportedly averaged 70mph, and the H3T driver claims it was his photographer’s numerous stops along the trail that helped edge the Nissan to victory. However, the HUMMER H3T recorded at least one small victory at the gas station following the race:

I pull to the opposite side of the pumps and begin filling the H3T alongside the GT-R. My pump stops at 6.5 gallons, but Jason’s keeps running until it clicks off at 9.7 gallons. So there is an upshot to my performance, after all. “You may have gotten here first,” I tell Jason, “but if you cared about the environment, you’d have driven a Hummer.”

Source: Automobile Magazine

Even though there were reports that their interest faltered after touring HUMMER’s facilities in the United States, China-based auto manufacturer Changfeng may still be interested in acquiring the brand in a joint venture with AM General, a report says.

“We never quit talks on acquiring the brand,” said the general manager of Changfeng according to Gasgoo, China’s #1 Automotive News source. “But now instead of doing it alone, we decide to form partnership with AM General to reduce risk as the global economy falters,” he explained. “We have to always adjust our plan to market conditions.”

AM General started the civilian HUMMER brand in the early 90s after the worldwide publicity their HUMVEE product received during the gulf war. AM General sold the marketing rights to HUMMER to GM in 1999, and to this day continues to produce the civilian H2 for General Motors.

This is a welcome sign to those that were hoping to see the HUMMER brand back in the hands of those who originated the brand, but knew they wouldn’t have the capacity or capital to make it happen. A joint venture between a strong international company like Changfeng and AM General makes sense. According to the report, the joint venture would be a U.S. company and continue to focus on the local market. Stay tuned for more details.

Although HUMMER has toyed with canvas roofs in the past and the HX is borderline convertible, a true convertible hasn’t been available since the demise of the HUMMER H1 and its soft-top model. HUMMER is in the company of many auto manufacturers who never intended their products to be convertibles, but Newport Convertibles in California will transform almost any model into a convertible, including an H2 and an H3.

Al Zadeh, a USC engineering school graduate has been making convertibles out of cars manufacturers never intended to go topless for a long time, and may have even helped push some manufacturers into action. In 1998 he was busy producing convertible Volkswagen beetles (the new style) nearly two years before they came out. He one-upped Chrysler in similar fashion with convertible versions of the Crossfire and PT Cruiser. Although the Photoshop skills could be improved, I’m looking forward to seeing their final version of the convertible GMC Express Van!

The jury is still out on whether the HX, HUMMER’s closest convertible concept, will see the light of day. Though, if you had the cash, we’re betting you may just be able to get Newport Convertibles to make you a Faux HX!

For the last four years, a group of HUMMER owners have converged on Southern California to help contribute to the Toys for Tots drive. This year, a caravan of around 75 HUMMERs will be delivering toys to Camp Pendleton, where U.S. Marines and their families will receive hundreds of toys.

Last year the HUMMER group donated around $75,000, and organizers expect a similar amount this year. “Even in trying times like these, people from all over the Southland are coming out in the spirit of caring and giving,” says Mark Parkinson, who owns a Southern California HUMMER dealer.

Four Wheeler Magazine has named their top choices for 2009, and the all new HUMMER H3T is topping the pickup truck list. The 2009 H3T was up against the Dodge Ram, the Ford F-150, and the Suzuki Equator. In order to qualify for the award, the model had to be completely new or substantially changed from a previous model year, and come equipped with a two-speed transfer case.

“The competition this year was fierce, with any of the four competitors capable of taking home the trophy, but in the end, it was the Hummer H3T that emerged from the dust as our 2009 Pickup Truck of the Year,” said Four Wheeler Technical Editor, Sean P. Holman. “Not only was the Hummer highly competent and the staff favorite on the trail, it also has the added pluses of on-road comfort, distinctive looks, and a usable pickup bed. Hummer has done its research to provide the four-wheeling enthusiast with a vehicle that has been designed around their needs from the beginning, rather than offering an off-road version of an existing product and it shows in the final product. Congratulations to Hummer’s 2009 H3T, our Pickup Truck of the Year.”

You may remember that the 2008 HUMMER H3 Alpha won the overall ‘Four Wheeler of the Year’ award in 2007, so congrats to the 2009 HUMMER H3T for carrying on the winning tradition!

Photo Credit: Autoblog

Some AM General workers who found themselves out of work earlier this year are back on the job this week. The HUMMER H2 plant employees wont find themselves back in their old jobs, but rather at AM General’s military HUMVEE plant. 80 employees lost their job in August, and thanks to increased demand for HUMVEES, 31 will return full time in just a few short weeks.

“We were able to offer some people, some positions, but not everybody,” said AM General spokesperson Craig Mac Nab. “This now brings everyone who was eligible back to work now in one capacity or another.”

Source: WSBT, South Bend