Hummer's Heyday Could Be Out Of Gas
Surging fuel prices have prompted General Motors to close four truck and SUV plants in the United States, and the automaker may discontinue the iconic Hummer brand in a dramatic focus on smaller vehicles.
CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the automaker's annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be closed are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico.
Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.
Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He said a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.
GM shares rose 36 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $17.80 in premarket trading.
The cuts will affect about 2,500 workers at each of the four facilities, although Wagoner did not know exact numbers. Many will be able to take openings created when 19,000 more U.S. hourly workers leave later this year through early retirement and buyout offers.
He said the company has no plans to allocate products to the four plants in the future.
"We really would not foresee the likely prospect of new products in the plants that we're announcing today that we'll cease production in," he told a Moraine, Ohio, city official who asked a question in a telephone conference call.
The moves will save the company $1 billion per year starting in 2010. Combined with previous efforts, GM will have cut costs by $15 billion a year, Wagoner said.
Wagoner said GM's board approved the production schedule of the Chevrolet Volt, and the company plans to bring the plug-in electric car to showrooms by the end of 2010. The Volt runs on an electric motor and has a small engine to recharge its batteries.
He said the change in the U.S. market to smaller vehicles likely is permanent. "We at GM don't think this is a spike or a temporary shift," Wagoner said.
The Detroit-based automaker also has just emerged from a spate of labor problems, with two local union strikes at key factories and a nearly three-month strike at key parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
GM said in a recent regulatory filing the strikes will cost it a total of $2 billion before taxes in the second quarter.
Detroit's automakers have been making the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, but not at the pace that matches consumers' drive to hybrids and high mileage models made overseas. Gas prices have accelerated the retreat from trucks and sport utility vehicles, leaving the Big Three at their most critical crossroads in 30 years.
The U.S. market is difficult for every automaker, with consumer confidence weak and 2008 sales expected to be the lowest in more than a decade. But it's most difficult for the Detroit Three, who have relied more heavily on sales of trucks and SUVs than their foreign counterparts. Trucks make up 70 percent of Chrysler LLC's U.S. sales, for example, compared to 41 percent at Toyota Motor Corp.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the automaker's annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be closed are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico.
Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.
Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He said a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.
GM shares rose 36 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $17.80 in premarket trading.
The cuts will affect about 2,500 workers at each of the four facilities, although Wagoner did not know exact numbers. Many will be able to take openings created when 19,000 more U.S. hourly workers leave later this year through early retirement and buyout offers.
He said the company has no plans to allocate products to the four plants in the future.
"We really would not foresee the likely prospect of new products in the plants that we're announcing today that we'll cease production in," he told a Moraine, Ohio, city official who asked a question in a telephone conference call.
The moves will save the company $1 billion per year starting in 2010. Combined with previous efforts, GM will have cut costs by $15 billion a year, Wagoner said.
Wagoner said GM's board approved the production schedule of the Chevrolet Volt, and the company plans to bring the plug-in electric car to showrooms by the end of 2010. The Volt runs on an electric motor and has a small engine to recharge its batteries.
He said the change in the U.S. market to smaller vehicles likely is permanent. "We at GM don't think this is a spike or a temporary shift," Wagoner said.
The Detroit-based automaker also has just emerged from a spate of labor problems, with two local union strikes at key factories and a nearly three-month strike at key parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
GM said in a recent regulatory filing the strikes will cost it a total of $2 billion before taxes in the second quarter.
Detroit's automakers have been making the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, but not at the pace that matches consumers' drive to hybrids and high mileage models made overseas. Gas prices have accelerated the retreat from trucks and sport utility vehicles, leaving the Big Three at their most critical crossroads in 30 years.
The U.S. market is difficult for every automaker, with consumer confidence weak and 2008 sales expected to be the lowest in more than a decade. But it's most difficult for the Detroit Three, who have relied more heavily on sales of trucks and SUVs than their foreign counterparts. Trucks make up 70 percent of Chrysler LLC's U.S. sales, for example, compared to 41 percent at Toyota Motor Corp.
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GM would be better served keep only the Hummer 3 and make it a hybrid.
They are all bad guys, and all need to be discontinued.
Bad guys don''t just come in singles, there are bad gangs also
An anecdote from the music industry.
A while back, Fender Instruments discontinued a line of amplifiers known as the "twin reverb", after which "Fender twins" became much sought after, so when the selling price for a used one became much higher than the new price, Fender decided to "re-issue" the line, at a higher price.
Don''t be surprised to see the same thing happen in this case, hummers always did appeal to the certain type of buyer who enjoys wastage as a sign of their own "status" a replacement for their own low self esteem, and these types will always be with us.
May? Who has been buying it since last summer? How much money are they spending on gas in a month?
Hummers look so stupid. What''s the appeal? I don''t get it. Who are you trying to impress? "Macho factor" says incog-nito. Oh-kay. I wonder if Ah-nuld has gotten rid of his. Maybe his wife talked some sense into him.
I see these huge SUV''s that look like they should be headed to the war in Iraq. Everything has to be BIG in the USA.
Toyota Tacoma - 18mpg
Toyota Highlander - 20mpg
Nissan Frontier - 17mpg
Nissan Titan - 14mpg
Nissan Armada - 14mpg
Mitsubishi Raider - 15mpg
Posted by PVperson
Wow!! That means my H2 gets same as Titan, Armada, Raider, and Tundra?!? So why again is the Hummer the bad guy? I am pretty sure there are a whole lot more of the others on the road today sucking up all that gas than there are H2''s.
re: Hey liberals. I drive my Hummer with the top down, throw my plastic fast food containers out the window, and when I am at a stop light I gas with the brake on to increase the emissions.
hey jboxton, you sound just like G.Bush, you deserve going to jail, you stupid thug.