It looks like the Hummer brand will be shutting down soon, according to “Hummer faces shutdown after Chinese sale collapses” by Dan Strumpf of The Associated Press. Car insurance companies will no longer have new models of the hulking SUV’s to worry about insuring. General Motors Co. was hoping to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. of China, but the manufacturer was unable to get clearance from its Chinese regulators by the end of February deadline. General Motors promises to honor the warranties of existing Hummers. They are working with Hummer employees, dealerships, and suppliers to phase out the brand.
The potential for a deal with the Chinese manufacturer came in October, six months after General Motors began trying to sell the Hummer brand because of the losses it was incurring. But Chinese regulators showed a lot of resistance from the start because they do not approve of the rapid growth in the Chinese auto industry. Sales of Hummers peaked in 2006, but Hummer only sold 325 cars last year. The cars range in price from $42,500 to $63,000. Hummer was hit hard by the extreme gas prices of 2008 because of their lack of fuel economy. It wasn’t easy to find cheap car insurance for the large, off-road vehicles either. If Hummer closes as expected, they will join Saturn, Pontiac, and Saab as a brand that GM has discontinued or sold off.
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