HUMMER Archives

GM announced today that it is recalling all Hummer H3s produced since the 2006 model year to fix an issue with the hood.

The recall affects 198,404 Hummer H3s and H3Ts. According to Hummer spokesman Nick Richards, a device on the hood called a hood louver can come loose during driving and in some cases it can detach. The louver is a panel on the hood that allows air to enter the engine compartment. It was used to cool the engines of older Hummer models, but on the H3 it was only decorative.

GM is going to repair the hood louver by applying an adhesive to keep it attached to the hood, since the current tabs holding the louver could fracture, causing it to come loose and possibly hit other vehicles if it were to fall off.

GM is currently in the process of shutting down the Hummer brand since the plans to sell the brand to Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd. (Tengzhong) fell through.

GM has just announced that China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd. (Tengzhong) was unable to complete the purchase of the Hummer brand.

"One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest HUMMER, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward. We have since considered a number of possibilities for HUMMER along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed," said John Smith GM vice president of corporate planning and alliances. "GM will now work closely with HUMMER employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."

GM is not going to start winding down the brand, just like it did when the Saturn deal fell through. Even though a similar announcement was released at one point about Saab, it's doubtful that there will be an 11th hour deal for Hummer.

General Motors has officially reached an agreement with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., to sell HUMMER, with Tengzhong acquiring 80 percent of brand. The remaining 20 percent has been acquired by Suolang Duoji, a private entrepreneur.

"HUMMER is a strong global niche brand and this agreement signifies another important milestone in writing the next chapter for both GM and HUMMER," said Fritz Henderson, GM President and CEO. "For HUMMER, the combination of its knowledgeable leadership team, vehicle design expertise and the capital financing of Tengzhong portend a successful future."

Under the agreement, GM is going to continue to build the HUMMER H2 and H3 models for Tengzhong until June 2011. There is an optional one year extension that would extend the contract to June 2012. Recent reports have claimed that the sale of HUMMER will bring in $150 million to GM.

Following yesterday's bankruptcy announcement, GM has announced that the automaker has entered "into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a buyer for Hummer."

GM stopped short of revealing who the buyer is, but stated that the sale is expected to close by the end of the third quarter this year. GM also stated that the buyer is committed to aggressively funding future HUMMER vehicles, hopefully like the H3T and that 3,000 jobs are now secure.

Well it was Chrysler last month and now as many people expected, GM has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

GM has officially filed for bankruptcy in a New York court citing $82 billion in assets, but an astounding $172 billion in debts. Although GM for most of its 100-year history has managed to hold the title as the world's largest automaker, the automaker has seen its sales drop almost 50 percent this year.

“Today marks a new beginning for General Motors,” GM Chairman Kent Kresa said in a statement this morning. “A court-supervised process and transfer of assets will enable a New GM to emerge as a stronger, healthier, more focused and nimbler company with a determination not to just survive but to excel.”

The process will see GM divided into two groups, good assets and bad assets. The good assets will become part of the new "leaner" GM and the bad assets will be liquidated. To aid in the process the U.S. treasury is going to provide an additional $30 billion to finance GM during the bankruptcy, which brings the total to almost $50 billion.

Just like Chrysler did yesterday, GM has announced plans to close 1,100 of its "underperforming" dealers.

Although GM has identified the 1,100 dealers that will be closed, the automaker is not closing any dealerships today. GM will be working with the dealerships over the next few weeks to come up with a long term plan. It is expected that their will be a wind-down of the affected dealers over the next year. This is in contrast to Chrysler's plans to close its affected dealers by June 9th.

GM likely to announce more dealer cuts in the future since the automaker wants to pare down its network from 5,969 stores to approximately 3,600 by the end of 2010.

Following the announcement of Chrysler's bankruptcy yesterday, attention is now focusing on what will happen to GM at the end of this month.

GM has a deadline of June 1st to convince 90 percent of its bondholders to swap $27 billion in debt for a 10 percent stake in the company. If the United Auto Workers and bondholders cannot agree to money-saving concessions by the end of the month, GM could also be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

"When there is a lot of bluffing going on in any negotiation, this shows the government is serious," said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of Edmunds.com

Earlier this week GM announced an updated Viability Plan that announced the death of Pontiac, more plant and dealer closures and more job cuts in an effort to qualify for more government aid.

Currently GM and its bond holders remain far apart on an agreement to swap debt for stake in the company. GM originally offered a 10 percent stake in exchange for $27 billion in debt, but the bond holders quickly counter offered with a deal that would give them a 58 percent stake in the company.

GM's current exchange offer expires on May 26.

General Motors has launched a new customer protection package called GM Total Confidence to encourage people to start buying cars again.

The new package is similar to what Hyundai launched a few months ago, although GM's version goes a bit further to help potential buyers. The payment protection plan will pay your car payment up to nine months if you lose your job within the first two years of vehicle ownership ($500 max per month). The residual value of the buyer's vehicle is also protected and one year of OnStar is also included.

The GM Total Confidence plan is available for vehicles purchased between April 1 - April 30, 2009.

GM is recalling 1,738 2009 HUMMER H3T models to fix an issue with the fuel tank.

The front support strap that holds the fuel tank in place could fracture, which would mean that the tank would only be supported by the rear strap and the stone shield. If left in this condition the rear strap and stone shield could also break causing the fuel tank could fall off the truck.

Dealers have been instructed to install a new-design fuel tank front support strap, free of charge.

GM released its Viability Plan yesterday in which the automaker revealed its plans to return the company to profitability. Today GM has announced that it is disbanding its high-performance unit.

This team was responsible for the development of the V-series Cadillacs and the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, HHR SS and a V-8 version of the Colorado.

"All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold," spokesman Vince Muniga said. "The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs."

There are currently no plans for high-performance versions of future vehicles.

The team could be reinstated once GM is back in the black.

Just as Chrysler submitted its Viability Plan to the U.S. Treasury Department, GM also submitted its own plan which detailed the automaker's plans to turn the company around. In Chrysler's plan the new Chrysler 300 and Jeep Grand Cherokee were revealed. GM also revealed a new model in its plan as well, the production version of the Cadillac CTS Coupe.

In addition to the CTS Coupe, GM also detailed plans for a new dual-clutch transmission, a new range of four-cylinder engines, a production version of the Cadillac Converj and a third generation hybrid system that will be released by 2015.

GM has already received $13.4 billion in loans from the U.S. goverment, but in its viability plan, the automaker asked for an additional $16.6 billion.

Part of GM's restructuring plan is to focus on its core brands; Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. GM is going to make a decision by the end of March if it will sell or phase out the HUMMER brand. Saab is currently on the market and Saturn is going to be phased out at the end of the current product cycle.

Today Congress is meeting to discuss the details of the $25 billion bailout plan for U.S. automakers. Debates are going back and forth from both sides on how to solve this problem. Some senators are now even saying that the CEO's of the Big 3 should consider stepping down from their positions if that is what it will take for Congress to approve the plan.

During an interview yesterday on NBC’S “Meet the Press”, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin stated I’d be happy to tell (GM CEO) Rick Wagoner that he ought to consider resigning if that is the difference between getting this kind of support and not. If it was the difference between getting this kind of support or not, obviously the management should consider resigning."

GM has put together an informational video of what it predicts will happen if the Big Three automakers all fail next year.

Some highlights:
-If all three fail next year it will result in 3 million U.S. jobs lost in the first year
-Total governement tax loss over three years = $156.4 billion
-The U.S. GDP would drop 4 percent, compare that to the fact that the current economic downturn was caused by a .3 percent drop
-One out of every ten jobs in the U.S. relies on the U.S. auto industry

These past few weeks have been really bad for GM and now comes news that the automaker has canceled all of its press events at the LA Auto Show next week.

It's already been reported that GM canceled plans to unveil the new Buick LaCrosse and the production version of the CTS Coupe at the show. GM spokesman Scott Fosgard told the Detroit News that all of GM's bad financial news and the pending government bailout would have overshadowed the show.

Instead of showing anything new GM is going to bring the Chevy Volt and the Saab 9-4X Air Concept that was unveiled in Paris.

Very sad...

Last week GM reported that it lost $2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2008, while spending $6.9 billion. Today General Motors stock has plunged more than 31 percent to their lowest level in more than 55 years after two analysts downgraded GM's stock claiming that it will be worth very little of nothing if GM does receive a government bailout.

Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache reduced GM to sell and put a price target of $0 a share.

"Without government assistance, we believe that GM's collapse would be inevitable, and that it would precipitate systemic risk that would be difficult to overcome for automakers, suppliers, retailers, and sectors of the U.S. economy," Lache wrote. "As part of GM's restructuring, we are also convinced that a large number of stakeholders who are senior to GM's equity will have to settle for pennies on the dollar."

GM launched the "Employee Pricing for Everyone" campaign last month to move the remaining 08' models and a few 09' models off dealer lots...well GM has extended the program until the end of September.

GM has announced the return of employee pricing for its 2008 models and the 2009 Pontiac Vibe.

HUMMER is seriously on the brink of extinction now that the SUV market has died and GM is looking to unload the brand...but HUMMER is still here for now. HUMMER has unveiled the 2009 HUMMER H2 Black Chrome Edition.

GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner announced today the many new steps that GM is going to take to cut costs by $15 billion by the end of 2009.

HUMMER has announced the pricing for its the pickup truck version of its smallest SUV, the H3.

It's widely known that GM is currently conducting a review of the HUMMER brand which will most likely result in the brand being sold or eventually killed. GM is claiming that no other brands are currently under review.

2008 is half way over and its been a very difficult six months for most automakers. GM which saw its sales decline 16.3 percent so far this year may be thinking about cutting even more jobs and possibly selling off some of its brands.

GM's CEO is set to announce the closer of 4 of GM's truck plants in North America.

GM is going to officially unveil the HUMMER H3T pickup in Chicago next month.

The smaller than an H3, HUMMER HX Concept has been unveiled prior to its official unveiling at next week's Detroit Auto Show.

GM announced today that it is going to increase the prices on most of its 2008 models to make up for the rising cost of steel and other commodities.

GM has released three images of the HUMMER HX concept that will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show next month.

GM has confirmed that the Hummer H3T pickup truck will arrive in dealers sometime in Q3 2008.

The SEMA Show is still a week away, but GM has given us a preview of what to expect at this year's show.

The UK and probably most of Western Europe has a strong dislike for large SUVs. But for some reason GM still feels that there is a market there for its smallest Hummer.

According to a new analyst report by Goldman Sachs the "Big 3" all had sales declines last month.

Last month will go down in the record books as the first month that Detroit's Big 3 (Ford, GM and Chrysler) sold less vehicles than their foreign competitors. Sales from Ford, GM and Chrysler only made up 48.1 percent of all vehicles sales in the U.S. last month, while foreign competitors made up 51.9 percent.

Toyota for the first time ever outsold GM worldwide in the first quarter of this year. So far this year Toyota is still outselling GM, but only by 46,000 units. In addition GM even outsold Toyota last quarter (April-June). Could GM win back its title of number 1 automaker this year?

With gas prices at near record levels, consumers continue to flock towards more economical and environmentally friendly vehicles, such as hybrids or the new diesel powered vehicles. HUMMER currently does not offer a hybrid or diesel powertrain in its lineup, which has hurt their image. Currently HUMMERs are seen as gas-guzzling, over-sized machines.

Inside sources are confirming that the 2008 Chevrolet Colorado midsize pickup is going to have a V8 option. The V8 will be the same small block 5.3L V8 that is in the 2008 Hummer H3 Alpha. The engine is good for 295 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque.

According to California Attorney General Jerry Brown, the federal government may need to bail out U.S. automakers in order to keep them in business. The bail out could amount to several billion dollars.

Edmunds.com has posted a list of the most wanted cars in 2007 based on reader feedback. Out of the 32 categories you may be surprised which automaker took home the most awards....

April's auto sales numbers have just been posted and almost every major automaker had a sales decrease last month. Even the Asian automakers that have been making headlines for their sales gains, took a hit.

Now that GM is the Number Two automaker in the world, many analysts are discussing what the automaker needs to do in order to get back on top. Alex Taylor at Fortune wrote an article on what he suggests the automaker do to gain back their title.

Hummer's general manager, Martin Walsh has confirmed that the smaller than an H3, H4 will be released in 2010. "Our growth will be downwards in terms of size." There could also be a smaller model than the H4, if there is demand for it.