"Voice of the Automotive World": Combine HUMMER, Saturn And/or Saab
I’m not much of a biblical scholar, but I did see Schwarzenegger’s End of Days. All sorts of weird shit happened before Arnie finally sent the devil packing. As we head down the home stretch for the auto industry reckoning, there’s some odd stuff percolating-up in the autoblogosphere. To wit: TheDetroitBureau.com’s suggestion that a newly independent Saturn or Saab should consider adding examples of HUMMER’s strategically doomed product line to their freshly liberated (or not) portfolio. Michael Strong makes the weak argument. Cross yourself and we’ll continue.
That said, in an unconvincing effort to prove that he’s not totally lost his grip on the concept known as “credibility,” Strong pins the whole thing on Motown mouthpiece Eric Merkle. “While Hummer is unlikely to move out on its own because of its limited lineup could GM convince an independent Saturn or Saab to take on its sibling as the “truck business” portion of their portfolio? ‘That’s not a bad idea,’ said Erich Merkle, an independent automotive analyst. ‘It would give Saturn a complete lineup.'”
It may also present a savvy buyer with just what it needs to make a move: a full service car company, including a well-run dealer network, at a bargain price, Merkle noted. He guessed the sale price at somewhere between “Hummer and what is Ford asking for Volvo? $5.5 billion? It’s a great time to move if you’re a buyer, but throwing Hummer in on the deal could be a great opportunity for someone,” Merkle said . . .
However, Merkle speculates that neither Saturn nor Saab would be interested in adding the entire Hummer lineup as it ventures out into the automotive world. Hummer carries with it some baggage that makes it difficult to tag on to two brands that are viewed as gas sippers, at least when compared with Hummer; however, if the largest of the Hummer lineup were eliminated, it could be much more appealing.
Note to Strong: HUMMER is all caps, like MINI only larger. Oh, and the world as you knew it is dead.
More by Robert Farago
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Three anchors do not make a boat. Maybe "Red Line" Saturns could get Hummer V8s, and "Green Line" Hummers could get Saturn 4s. And Saabs could just be loss-leaders to get people in the door. Yech.
"Note to Strong: HUMMER is all caps, like MINI only larger." No, it's not. That's just the way they do their logo. Hummer is not an acronym or initialism and thus does not get the all-caps treatment except in the company's own promotional material. And anyway, note that Saab and Saturn, as well as many other companies, also frequently use all-caps, but that doesn't mean that's the way they should be written. Bill Walsh, a copy editor for the Washington Post, has written a good little essay on the issue.