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RIP Hummer: Symbol of Eco-Defiance Is a Goner

Villified car will be tough for GM to unload

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 4, 2008 9:02 AM CDT
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(Newser) – General Motors announced yesterday that it was considering selling the Hummer brand, which begs the question: To whom? Who exactly wants the most reviled division in automotive history, asks Frank Aherns of the Washington Post. With gas at $4 a gallon and counting, no one’s really interested in SUVs that “get 15 miles per gallon downhill with a tail wind.”

Yes, Hummers have their good points. Some ferried Red Cross supplies during hurricane Katrina, driving through 2-feet-deep water, which admittedly rocks. But most Hummers are spotless suburban symbols of environmental defiance, sporting gas tanks that now cost $128 to fill. This year, GM has sold a mere 3,000. No one’s buying this brand; consider the Hummer extinct.

In a photo provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety a crash test of the Hummer H3 is shown.
In a photo provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety a crash test of the Hummer H3 is shown.   (AP Photo/Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
New General Motors Hummer SUVs sit on a dealer lot in Benton, Ark., Tuesday, June 3, 2008.
New General Motors Hummer SUVs sit on a dealer lot in Benton, Ark., Tuesday, June 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
New General Motors Hummer SUVs sit on a dealer lot in Benton, Ark., Tuesday, June 3, 2008.
New General Motors Hummer SUVs sit on a dealer lot in Benton, Ark., Tuesday, June 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
A long row of unsold 2007 H3s sits outside a Hummer dealership in the northwest Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, Colo., on Sunday, May 6, 2007.
A long row of unsold 2007 H3s sits outside a Hummer dealership in the northwest Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, Colo., on Sunday, May 6, 2007.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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GM's green push could drive Hummer off the road
Telegraph (UK)

Harsh dose of reality for GM
Baltimore Sun

 
General Motors • SUV • auto industry • Hummer

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