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Following years of tough times for General Motors and American auto companies in general, General Motor’s CEO, Rick Wagoner recently mentioned in passing that several groups have given bids to purchase HUMMER. HUMMERs have not been selling well, for various reasons. The HUMMER is almost a statement against environmentalism, and the go-to name when anyone wants to blame gas guzzling SUVs for something. In a time where “going green” has become the latest craze, HUMMER has suffered. With gas prices at $4 a gallon, and the HUMMER already being an expensive luxury SUV , it is amazing the company has done as well as it has so far.
The brand is well publicized, but still small, with two main stream models in the last decade or so, and the HUMMER H1, a 7 foot wide, $130,000 monster which ended production in 2006. The selling of HUMMER is part of GM’s plan to cut $10 billion in costs, a plan to shore up liquidity. Hummer will continue as a company no matter who buys it however, and will continue to innovate. Humvees will still be sold to the United States military as well as foreign governments, and supposedly HUMMER H1’s will be sold as fleet vehicles in small batches. HUMMER only sent a few hundred out on auto shippers to dealerships when it was being made so this is actually quite similar.
None of the bidders for the company have been named, nor have prices, but it is clear that the brand will likely be sold, and soon. This announcement was bad news for GM’s stock, as it fell 8.5% to $11.90. Comparatively it was trading at $43.02 last October. Obviously GM has some problems to sort out and for the sake of all the honest hard working American’s they employ, let’s hope they sort them out quickly.
Many take this announcement as a sign that GM might be selling more brands. However Wagoner has quashed these fears saying that GM was committed to Saab and that it would continue to stay in North America under GM.
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