QOTD: Would Hummer Sell Today?
Here’s the thing: as readers and writers – and not CEOs held responsible for a raft of employees and shareholders – we can play armchair quarterback about product planning to our heart’s content.
Jeep is currently in the throes of selling their wares with the speed of proverbial hotcakes. Responding in kind is Ford, who is seemingly on the cusp of introducing a couple of Bronco rigs as Wrangler and Renegade fighters. Here’s the question for you – would GM make bank if they brought back Hummer?
In case anyone around here has a very short memory, let’s hold a quick history lesson. Hummer began marketing vehicle all the way back in 1992, when it foisted a civilian version of the military Humvee on the American public. The effort was helped along by Hollywood elite and White House Plumbers alike.
Later, GM bought the joint, proceeding to produce H2 and H3 machines based on other General Motors trucks and SUVs. Sadly, it became a pariah for the tree-hugging crowd, a popular punching bag for the argument we were all using too much of the world’s fuel. This, and the economic downturn, led to whispers in Ren Cen about the possibility of binning the brand. GM’s embarrassing sojourn through bankruptcy took care of the rest after a search for a buyer turned up empty.
By the way, it annoys me to no end when GM and its brands tout themselves as “celebrating 100 years” or whatever. Technically, they’re not even a decade old. The current General Motors Company is legally distinct from the original General Motors Corporation founded in 1908. The old GM is now called Motors Liquidation Company and hasn’t made a car since 2009. Anyway.
Big, square brutes are now firmly in vogue, as evidenced by Jeep who’s breaking its own records month after month. Ford will likely do well with their new Bronco and its variants. If GM were to bring back Hummer, marketing three or four SUVs and crossovers plus a midsize pickup with modern powertrains and technologies, they’d probably find themselves with a very popular brand.
Agreed? Or am I completely off the mark?
[Image: Wikipedia]
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Lot of people have no idea on the bones of the H2 I can see from the comments, similarly many should drive a vehicle before giving it a rash. My H2s are the best long distance travelers Ive been able to find, and resale value has been fantastic. The H2s and H3s are plenty capable off-road. My vote; please dear God do not bring back the brand, lest it become a Jeep clone and start building faux off-road vehicles.
I have gotten this far into the comments and, no comments yet from Hummer????? I do recall that the H2 owners' main gripe about H2 was, wait for it, crappy fuel economy. Big duh, buy a massive vehicle as aerodynamic as a brick, with likely the largest frontal area on a "light" truck and expect decent MPG? Current cafe standards, maybe even the proposed new more permissive efficiency standards would rule the H2 out.