| GM’s Hummer waves good-bye as fuel prices surge |
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| Written by Rodrick Mukumbira | ||||
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The mighty Hummer has met its match in the surging fuel prices, with its manufacturer, General Motors, considering either discontinuing its assembly line or disposing of the unit, as buyers turn their backs to the fuel guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that is so popular with north Namibian and Angolan drivers.
This is part of a “strategic review of the Hummer brand, which includes
everything from revamping the product portfolio to selling the brand”,
General Motors of South Africa (GMSA) announced last week. “The decision regarding Hummer is part of a larger corporate plan to reduce large commercial vehicle and SUV capacity in the US and to increase smaller car capacity in order to compete more effectively in the marketplace,” it said. GMSA has sold 1191 Hummer H3s in South Africa since the launch of the product to market in July 2007, according to van Huyssteen, and currently employs 420 people in its production line in Port Elizabeth. Reports from the US, where the company is headquartered, however say Hummer vehicles may be redesigned, or all or part of the division may be sold. “The strategic review is currently underway and no decisions have been made yet. We therefore are unable to comment on its possible impact on production operations until this process has been completed,” Denise van Huyssteen, Communications Manager: GMSA and African Operations, told the Economist. GM, world’s largest automaker, acquired rights to the brand, patterned after an all-terrain military vehicle and popularized by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, from privately held A.M. General LLC in late 1999 for an undisclosed sum, at a time when SUV sales were regularly rising more than 14% annually and fuel prices were nothing to go to press about. The writing had been on the wall since 2006 when sales of the Hummer brand started falling. |
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