i saw it.....you want to read this

[DLUV12]

okay here is the deal i am riding home from the base with a friend, we are heading up I-25 here in new mexico, and my friend says thats a weird color Hummer, i look over and its like a reddish-orange H3, i say thats a new color to me....and then it speeds up and has an Alpha badge on it....so we trail this H3 because i can not figure out how its on the road...my friend says maybe they got ahold of the Alpha badge.....maybe, but the color is not one i have ever seen, it was the same color as the Alpha in the 2008 ad pictures....here is the kicker..it had Michigan plates....i thought these were not selling yet? anyone else seen one yet?

[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

Originally Posted by DLUV12

okay here is the deal i am riding home from the base with a friend, we are heading up I-25 here in new mexico, and my friend says thats a weird color Hummer, i look over and its like a reddish-orange H3, i say thats a new color to me....and then it speeds up and has an Alpha badge on it....so we trail this H3 because i can not figure out how its on the road...my friend says maybe they got ahold of the Alpha badge.....maybe, but the color is not one i have ever seen, it was the same color as the Alpha in the 2008 ad pictures....here is the kicker..it had Michigan plates....i thought these were not selling yet? anyone else seen one yet?

That was the one shown on South Beach at the Super Bowl...

[Mr Snappy]

Could also be a test mule.
I have seen several new vehicles on trips to vegas, some disguised, some not. Some manufacturers will send new vehicles or new engine configs to the desert areas to test them in extreme conditions.

[HummBebe]

Originally Posted by Mr Snappy

Could also be a test mule.

yep

[3Hummer]

Probably a test car, and i bieleve Rubher yellow ducky is right. It was the one shown at the super bowl, i wasnt there to see it but my friend drove down there and told me 'bout it.

[f5fstop]

Sorry, most test mules are not produced with new colors. In fact. majority of the time they will be good old white. Another interesting note, the future V8 in the alpha has been in H3s for quite a while and driven on the roads. You may have actually passed one and not knew it. There were many 2007 and some limited number of 2006 vehicles, that had their 5-cylinders taken out, and the body modified to allow for a V8. These vehicles were then driven around the USA. Hoover Dam is a very popular place due to the massive amount of EMI produced by all those generators and the massive electrical wires. Helps prove out the shielding used on the computers. There are actually some vehicles running around with some 2009 surprise components.

What you saw was either a pre-production vehicle where the last two digits of the VIN are EX, or an actual production vehicle. There are actually quite a few actual production vehicles in MI and some have gone on extended trips outside MI to the wild, wild west. These production vehicles are called Captured Test Vehicles, and are part of a Captured Test Fleet.
Eventually the ones with a full production VIN will be sold, usually to employees.

I guess H3builder could let us know how long they have been building them, but I know we have had some production models for a few weeks, and pre-production (EX Vins) for a month. EX are as good as production, but they may not have valideated parts so they can't be sold. Eventually, they are crushed, donated, or kept in some areas for future "things."

The one at the Super Bowl was not an actual production vehicle. It would have been a 07 that was custom built for auto shows, and could never be sold.

By the way, the favorite color in the Captured Test Fleet appears to be the Solar Flare Metallic (the orangy color).

Did the MI plate have an "M" for the middle letter (Example: 001M020)?