QOTD: Ripe for Return?
The Great Recession of 2009 wasn’t kind to many automakers, a few of whom were forced to jettison brands like the crew of a sinking boat heaving cargo overboard. With a decent level of consumer confidence and continued cheap gas, things are looking up — even as they’re looking down (January results were less than favorable for a few).
Imagine for a moment you could conjure the ability (and the funds) to revive a brand that’s recently departed this landscape. We have four from which you can select — and a brand new way for you to vote.
Beyond the incessant carping that GM should have kept Pontiac instead of Buick (many feel, rightly or wrongly, that keeping Buick around for China was short-sighted, as that market cannot sustain continued exponential growth), you know there must be some tears shed at Ren Cen for the Hummer brand.
Every soccer-toting parent and their housekeeper wants a crossover to park in the school drop-off line these days, not to mention the fact that Jeep is a license to print money for Fiat Chrysler. The latter is such a big deal that those in the know say a main goal at Ford right now is to “beat Jeep”; don’t be surprised to see Bronco become a sub-brand of sorts.
Can you imagine a full line of Hummer vehicles today? They’d sell like proverbial hotcakes. Some sort of halo model, maybe in the visage of a Raptor, followed by a three-row brute and a couple of smaller crossovers — all with the squared and macho styling shown at the top of this post. Like it or not, they’d probably make a mint.
Our other two choices for you are Eagle and Mercury. The case for these are less solid, since the latter would simply hoover development dollars away from Lincoln while the former ended life as a brand with a muddled mission. These days at FCA, Dodge takes the performance reins while Jeep handles off-road stuff. Still, they had a cool logo.
So how about it? Click one of the images below to vote and, since we know you lot like to talk, leave a comment in the section below.
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As much as I miss Pontiac and a couple of other brands, there's no solid way to make money on those brands. The time to do it would have been several years ago, but now they need to sell more of the cars they ARE making right now, not something in the future. In today's environment Hummer is the logical choice, but even then, it would be an uphill battle, against other GM marques and the competition. Even if it makes sense right now, who knows what conditions will change and then we'll have people incinerating Hummers in the parking lots again. Make the best Chevys, Buicks and GMCs here in the USDM, leave the ghosts of the past alone. Their time has come and gone and there's no good going to come out of reviving one or any of them.
I loathed Hummer and the people that drove them. The only real "Hummer" is the one sold to Uncle Sam, everything else is a parts bin special. BUT, if GM wants a specialty brand to make money, then bring back Hummer. There's no reason for Mercury or Pontiac to come back. Anything that made Mercury special at one point was completely lost by about 1985. I'd rather see Merkur return if anything!! Pontiac only if it can "just" be the excitement division, but not if it's going to sell another version of the Equinox, Trax or anything else that wears a bowtie, like it did for 30 years. If they just did performance versions of those vehicles, maybe. But not a whole brand.