Hedging its bets - HUMMER dealer anticipates doom, pre-emptively downsizes

Dan Roth — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:33:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, SUV, Truck, Etc., GM, Hummer

There's no official obituary for GM's HUMMER brand yet, but haters are lacing up their dancing shoes while lovers wring their hands. Dealers with HUMMER franchises have a lot of skin in the game, so the uncertain future is bound to give business officers ulcers. Not willing to wait around to the bitter end, Milwaukee's Bergstrom HUMMER is planning to move into the same space as the group's Chevrolet store. The HUMMER-specific Quonset hut style dealership building will be toned down and pressed into service as an outlet for Certified used GM vehicles. Other HUMMER dealers across the nation are staring down the same conundrum, being on the hook for that big, rugged showroom, test track, inventory, and staff, while the parent company looks to clamp off bleeders. Some might follow Bergstrom's lead and shove the big trucks into a corner of a showroom dominated by a more stable brand, while others are shipping inventory as fast as they can.

Moving product is a tremendous challenge when the bobbleheads on the nightly news continue shrilly about the price of fuel and you've got a lot full of low-mpg, high weight trucks that happen to be a favorite target of vandals euphemistically masquerading as "activists." Customers that do make it through the door are looking for deals, and HUMMER will spot you five thousand bucks to take an H3, PLEASE. Existing customers are looking to get out of their vehicles any way possible, even if it means a financial hit. The mass exodus isn't solely due to hysteria, when it costs over $100 to fill the fuel tank, it chafes to watch the fuel gauge's precipitously quick drop toward "E." Retail issues aside, HUMMER still offers capable vehicles with a high level of style. If you've got a boat to pull, and want to look like the Governator, an H2 could still be just the thing, and now you'll be able to find one for a song; most likely the blues.

Gallery: 2009 HUMMER H3T

[Source: Inside Line]

Hedging its bets - HUMMER dealer anticipates doom, pre-emptively downsizes originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: HUMMER H2 SUT, or is it?

John Neff — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:26:00 EST

Filed under: Spy Photos, Truck, Hummer

Well looky, looky. KGP Photography has caught a lengthened HUMMER H2 SUT out testing in full military apparel, complete with a white star! Looking something out of a G.I. Joe play set, this tester has got a lot of extra inches added behind the B-pillar creating a bed much longer the standard H2 SUT. So what's going on here? Glenn Paulina from KGB surmises that this HUMMER H2 SUT may be riding on the GMT900 platform that's also used by the Suburban and the General's half-ton pickups. The current H2 SUT rides on an older GMT820 platform, according to Winding Road. This suggests that the H2 SUT may be maturing into a bonafide truck of trucks, with the intent of further distinguishing itself from the upcoming H3T. If this is true, it's also possible that HUMMER could be considering a lengthened version of the HUMMER H2 SUV itself, creating a kind of Suburban HUMMER. With the H1 officially gone, there's certainly no chance of cannibalizing your own sales, though that doesn't address the question of whether consumers want an even bigger HUMMER SUV or truck at the moment.

[Source: The Car Connection, Winding Road]

Spy Shots: HUMMER H2 SUT, or is it? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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