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"Rise And Fall of the Hummer"

Jeepwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
857
Location
WI
I thought the graphic in this article was a nice visual. I hadn't seen it before (sorry if it was posted before):

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/timeline-the-rise-fall-and-return-of-the-hummer/

Return-of-Hummer-1200px.jpg
 

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Sledder10

Member
Messages
12
Location
Mississippi
This popped up on my Google feed the other day too. Cool graphic. Really takes me back to the days when Hummers were the talk of the town because of the gas situation and whatnot. It's sad what happened to such good concept simply because of the timing. I was really hoping the new 'off-road' craze would convince GM to revive the Hummer brand, but a Hummer model under GMC is better than nothing, I suppose.
I can speculate that if Hummer had started making an H3-esque mid-size vehicle right away back in the 90's alongside the H1 and gotten a good footing in the mid-size off-road/SUV markets, they would have survived the 2000's and now have a long-standing reputation with off-roaders. I can only dream of an Isuzu Trooper or Rodeo based Hummer that had a strong engine, killer looks, nice interior, and lockers. ugh.
But, hindsight is 20/20, and those poor folks in the 90's at AM General had no way of knowing what was coming. I really do hope the Hummer EV succeeds, but unfortunately I see it only as a 'Halo' car that exists just to generate excitement around GM and equate their brands with fun, awesome, cutting-edge, innovative, and electric, and they will overall lose money on it. And in my opinion, battery-electric vehicles are a temporary virtue signal. They will need to start on a hydrogen Hummer if they want it to truly stick around (which I don't think they really do).
 
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3Hummers

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,398
Location
Central Texas
GM never should have abandoned Hummer. The H4 was going to be a huge hit. Putting a diesel in the H2 would have been a hit and smoothed the way for a move into the EV market. No foresight in the executive halls of GM at the time.
 

H3Hummer

Well-Known Member
Messages
505
Location
LUXEMBOURG in EU
Oh so right, I would immediately get the HX 3 doors that was planed before GM abandoned Hummers, this Hummer I'm sure, could be the best and most sold Hummer ever...3 doors, V6, 35" from stock, 3 lockers ....... 😢😢😢
 

Big2dabank

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,216
Location
Central Florida
Pretty interesting graphic, thanks for sharing. I wonder how many of those pre-orders will actually turn onto purchases. I know several people that have preorders on EV trucks from Tesla, Rivian, Ford, Chevy and Hummer and depending on which one comes first the others will most likely be canceled.
 

f5moab

Mr. Beretta
Messages
1,986
Location
Hiding in a potato patch in Idaho
It fell, declining sales and the coming GM bankruptcy guaranteed it would fail. H4 was nice but not what was shown to the public at auto shows; however, that was a common factor with a lot of pilot vehicles done by all manufacturers. The model the public was shown was a lot fancier; and would have been a winner. However, GM/Hummer was not going to put that much into a H4. The writing was already on the walls of GM; Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn were going to the same graveyard as Oldsmobile.

H2 did get a Diesel, a newly designed Diesel that, I believe, has never been released, drove one around the suburbs of Detroit. Needless to say, it was never released to the public.

Hummer division has never produced an EV. Hummer was a division of General motors that has been gone for years. GM brought back the Hummer name and placed it under GMC as basically, just another GMC model.

For some, this could have been the real H4....
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I'll return in another three years....MAYBE!
 

Nikal

Well-Known Member
Messages
87
Location
California
A few years ago on the History channel, I think? There was documentary type show and the episode I saw was about General Motors. It’s one of those type of docs that had multiple commentators. Think like the show “The Men that Built the America or the Automobile” documentaries.

Anyways when they got to the years when GM was struggling & filling for Bankruptcy, and the Government was looking to bail them out. GM was under allot of pressure not only to its shareholders, the Government, but also the environmentalists. The commentator was saying how GM was forced to kill off a few brands. Some felt Buick should have been dropped before Pontiac, as Pontiac had the better sales & a younger market. But Pontiac was knows for muscle cars and poor fuel mileage, just like the Hummer line. The Hummer was constantly used as the example of poor fuel mileage, especially when Toyotas Prius were reaching a peak in popularity with fuel efficiency, reducing the carbon footprint and even the celebrities who once pulled up to red carpet events in a Hummer were now driving Prius’s.

Bottom line is it was said the Hummer & Pontiac brands were the “Sacrificial Lamb” for GM to make everyone happy and distract them from looking any farther. The fact that Chevrolet & GMC truck lines used the same engines, transmissions and in some cases the same frames as the Hummers, made them just as inefficient as the Hummer models. But it was the Hummer models that got all the attention for being fuel hogs and polluting the environment.

Same situation for Pontiac as the Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac models shared much of the same platforms as the Pontiac models.

After watching this you will realize he was right. You never heard people trying to protest or stop Chevy from building the Suburban, Tahoe, small Blazer or Jimmy, or any other pickups that used the same powertrain as the H2 or H3.
 

GMOG78

Member
Messages
17
Location
Michigan
General Motors had lost market share over the years and had too much capacity. The company needed to reorganize. Than came the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Remember the housing bubble bursting and the sub-prime mortgage crisis? The financial system went to hell and the world suffered. Companies big and small struggled. General Motors eliminated the Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer divisions. Oldsmobile was already gone. Not sure why GM chose to eliminate those brands (why not Buick?) but they did. Goodbye Hummer.
Today it seems people don't care what they drive. Parking lots are full of white, brown and black vehicles that all look alike. People seem to be more interested in the virtual world on their cell phone than the real world around them.
The Hummer EV is a GMC with the Hummer nameplate. The H1, H2, and H3 Hummers are truly unique. Nothing quite like them. Sad that they are gone.
 

HUMMR-H3T

Member
Messages
15
Location
Omaha, NE
They are gone...( as in they are no-longer built and sold @ dealerships... If you see a HUMMER driving by you, coming up next to you @ the traffic light, or driving past you moving in the other direction, ( they're not gone ) When I walk out to my garage,
I see a Birch White '09 HUMMER H3T.. there's a H3T in my garage..! 13 yrs later i have one
, The Hummer will never DIE.! ....As long as the Hummer has a garage to park in, be appreciated by said owner that drives it, and it ends up in a garage where the owner really does see the value of the HUMMER Brand, and can laugh out loud uncontrollably @ the brain-dead environ-mental wack jobs driving their wuss-bag Pri-us..and you flying past them in your H3T..
( Especially the H3T.)
 

HUMMR-H3T

Member
Messages
15
Location
Omaha, NE
I also own a rare ( 9Y000008 is the last 8 numbers of the Vin # ) 2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe, it currently has a roommate, a 2009 Birch White Hummer H3T. (2) vehicles (survivors of the 2009 GM downfall ) reside in my garage ....
 

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wpage

Member
Messages
16
Location
Delaware
Interesting post...
Rise and fall? Maybe a resurrection on the horizon. The EV Hummer promises there is a future for the brand.
GM does have a habit of abandoning failed groups like Oldsmobile. If the future is EV or some hybrid Hummer. Keeping the brand is a good thing.
 
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