AM General shuts down H2 plant

[HummerMann]

Hummer announced it was shutting down the H2 AM General plant yesterday and laying off 200 workers. GM and AM General says this is at least till March, but GM is not saying if it will restart the line in March. They are obviously being tight lipped about this. No one knows if this is really temporary or the end of the line for the H2 - I hope someone with big pockets can get in there and save the H2!
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/38399649.html

[s_c5519]

Is that the only plant where H2's are produced?

[HummerJim]

Yep, that's the only place H2s are made. What I hate about this is, that if this really is the end of production, some people will buy them and store the 2009s for auto collections and Hummers are made to be driven and not stored in a garage or warehouse. Your H2 will become a rarer and rarer sight on the road. If the AM General plant starts churning out taxis we'll know it's over.

[Dave92270]

that's a bad news...

I don't know if it is a coincidence (sort of doubt it..), but since yesterday prices on two H2's I tracked jumped up; nice clean base '05 with 33k miles went from $22k to $25, and '08 demo (80 miles, but horrible dual-color paint scheme) from $50k (still in the morning paper at that price) to $56k already at the website.. both are sold by dealerships here in SoCal

[Bionic Hummer]

It's over. Great Truck. No more.

[RazM]

Originally Posted by Bionic Hummer

It's over. Great Truck. No more.

Until it's bought...

[frenzy1]

think it'll be finished for real this year or next year

[HumminNBoatin']

I am okay with it. All Great things must come to an end. Look at is this way all of us H2 owners already have a Classic! Im sure that if it comes back it will only be if a buyout is done or when the economy recovers.

Now it might be a while, If you think about it the true muscle car dissapeared in the late 70's only to come back in the 90's. Im thinking this may be the trend we could see.

Just my $.02
Eric

[HummerJim]

I've noticed on Ebay and Auto Trader some of the H2 prices have come up a thousand or two in one day! One H2 ad on Ebay says "Own the last of the the best offroad vehicle ever made, except for the H1!"There are so many H2s out there we're not going to have to worry about parts and I'm sure there will be aftermarket manufacturers IF NO ONE buys Hummer from GM and this really is the end of the line for the H2.

[Mark805]

This makes me sad in the pants

[Hummer Guy]

I don't think the H2 is going anywhere too soon...there's still demand, just not the demand there was 5 years ago. A new investor will see that, embrace HUMMER's niche market, and advertise that the brand isn't for everyone. HUMMER's new CEO is already going down that path when he said this a week ago:

"If there's a disappointed HUMMER owner, it's because they weren't looking for a HUMMER. They bought the wrong car. If you're looking for a vehicle that does what this does, you're not going to be disappointed."

[Mark805]

True, Hummer has always been in that niche market, which is one reason I hope it stay around. I honestly dont see how dropping the brand can help GM, it wasn't thier bread and butter.

I still have hope for the HX. It seems like a logical step to retain that 4x4 concept with todays eco friendly mindset. (Plus i want one to apply to some eco type environments )

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

Before economy started decline there were 3 solid companies having serious discussions about owning Hummer or doing a deal between them and AM General. They do not really want GM in the mix if possible except for signing on the closing papers.

When things began to change they cooled off and not because they were losing money or afraid of future of Hummer brand. They may not be so hot on spreading the line to meet whatever so called need should be filled so some models could get pared down.

What happened was that these wealth international companies (that by the way a Hummer is a huge vehicle of interest to it's certain income level worker in their specific nation) were smart enough to back off let GM for one get parinoid about the huge unpopular gas guzzler and ride out the monetary troubles happening around the globe. These companies knew before or say maybe our public knew but, still most of our own companies knew that this was coming because they had already seen the advance stages in their own nations as well as the European, Asian, Russian, and others.

These guys sat down (of which at least 1 co. is still family owned) and saw a fire sale price to be had for Hummer alone. Hey why buy it in a rush when in around a year you own Hummer for 50% off, being generous at this time, maybe even 70% off and the old rabbit in a hat trick you have a profitable company at time of closing because now tons of overhead is removed etc. etc.

Many of our business majors can most likely explain this better than me and seriously really really please do so.

TAZ

[Mark805]

Taz:

Thanks, that actually makes some sense to me...

[Badace]

I like G.M owning it. I would hate to see ford buy it. Ford styling sucks.

[hummeraddict]

Hopefully this is only temporary to save some $ for a few months. Maybe production will start again in April or May. I started saving to buy an 08 H2. I was planning on buying an 08 in two years. I want that because of the 6.2. But if they cancel the H2, prices will go higher for used ones.

[Intercooled]

Yes its a niche vehicle, I dont thnk GM can handle producing a niche vehicle anymore besides corvette. Times have changed drastically in short amount of time. I would love to see GM hang on but the sales to production dollars dont work. I believe with the HX they could turn the corner and make things happen but with this government intervention it isnt going to work.

[hummeraddict]

Originally Posted by Intercooled

Yes its a niche vehicle, I dont thnk GM can handle producing a niche vehicle anymore besides corvette. Times have changed drastically in short amount of time. I would love to see GM hang on but the sales to production dollars dont work. I believe with the HX they could turn the corner and make things happen but with this government intervention it isnt going to work.

All we can do is wait and see.

[HummerMann]

This "what's going to happen with Hummer" has been going on since June and there's no quantitive way to gauge it, but it's been hurting Hummer sales, especially on the H3. One of the guys in the office wants an H3 badly, but he doesn't want to have a vehicle with no dealer network to support it, so he's holding off. He went through it with his Isuzu Trooper when Isuzu pulled its dealerships, and he says never again.

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

Do not worry about Ford owning Hummer. The 3 companies I hinted about are not American and the one I feel will end up owning it will do far more for and with the brand than GM has done. For one once these guys own it Hummer will be around for a long time. No worries about warranty being arounf etc.

TAZ