GM Officially Puts Hummer Up for Sale

With the high fuel prices we've experienced this year and resultant downturn in the mid- and full-size sport utility segments,

Hummer's three-vehicle lineup from 2006, with the H1, H3 and H2, from left to right. (Photo: Hummer)

not to mention the general downturn in spending on the whole it was only a matter of time before GM had to bite the proverbial bullet and spit out its Hummer brand.

The iconic 4x4 brand isn't all that old as far as vehicle manufacturers go. The M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) otherwise known as “Humvee” became a household name during the Gulf War (August 2, 1990 – February 28, 1991), after which then-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with AM General, the truck's manufacturer, to build a civilian version that eventually became known as the H1 during General Motors's tenure.

GM created the Hummer brand in 1992 and concurrently gave the name H1 to the civilian version of HMMWV, a vehicle sold from 1992 through to 2006. The H1, the rights of which have always remained with AM General, is still sold through the South Bend, Indiana company incidentally, but only to the US military and heavy industry.

GM introduced the smaller, friendlier yet still extremely capable H2 for model year 2003,

The Hummer lineup is three-strong again with the introduction of the 2009 H3T pickup truck, shown here being assembled at GM's Shreveport, Louisiana plant. (Photo: Hummer)

but the honeymoon was already over by 2005 when sales slid to 23,213 units. For the same year, the H2, loosely based on GM's GMT820 truck platform, spawned a flexible cab/bed pickup truck version dubbed H2 SUT, an innovative design that has always been a niche player within a niche player.

In 2006 Hummer introduced the H3, also based on one of GM's truck platforms, this time the GMT355 architecture that underpins Chevy's compact Colorado and its GMC Canyon clone. Sales skyrocketed to 33,140 units, totaling 74-percent of total Hummer sales for 2006. Interestingly, the H3 is the only Hummer built in a General Motors facility; production takes place in two GM plants actually, the Shreveport, Louisiana factory as well as the Port Elizabeth plant in South Africa. The H2 and H1 models are built by AM General at a specially constructed facility in Mishawaka, Indiana.

Hummer updated the H3 with an Alpha designation for 2008, complete with an upgraded interior and V8-power, while the H2 was thoroughly revamped for the 2008 model year and fitted with the premium-quality interior it always deserved,

A new buyer would get the all-new H3T just in time to capitalize on its first year of sales. (Photo: Hummer)

but as the saying goes, timing is everything and the H2's time seems to have come and gone.

Unfair for Hummer fans, with the new H3T pickup truck just arriving for the 2009 model year, but GM appears to be wiping its hands of a brand that has transformed from the coolest of cool in Hollywood and the rest of the world's trend-setting communities, to the hottest of heated topics amongst environmental groups having unfairly branded it as polluter number one in their fight against global warming.

Despite making more hybrids than any other automaker and pushing numerous alternative fuel agendas from clean diesel to ethanol flex-fuel systems, the Hummer brand has smeared GM's overall image, so now that sales are at an all-time low, having dropped by 50-percent so far this year, and that compared to 2007 which wasn't particularly stellar as it is, the brand is up for sale.

While

Could GM be making way for Jeep? (Photo: Steven James Day, American Auto Press)

GM is saying it's not necessarily committed to selling the brand, knowing all too well that there may be few buyers interested in picking up Hummer in the current economic and environmental climate, it wouldn't have put out the for sale sign if it, one, didn't believe there were at least some interested parties that might snap it up, or two, wasn't prepared to cut its losses and kill off the brand if it couldn't be sold.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Hummer signified its intention to sell by sending out proposals to interested parties, which means that GM, at least, believes there are serious contenders. Jim Taylor, Hummer's new CEO, will be in charge of heading up negations with potential suitors.

GM certainly needs the cash, as it's burning through about $1 billion per month according to industry analysts, but the sale could also mean that it's feeling bullish about acquiring Chrysler LLC, and with that acquisition taking control of the Jeep brand, and its best-selling Wrangler.

We do live in interesting times.