Hummer Sales Down For Five Straight Months - Slate

[hatrack]

"Of all the inanities uttered by former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, perhaps none was more inane than his May 2001 assertion that burning fossil fuels was part of the "blessed" American way of life. Those driving giant cars, he suggested, were not only exercising some fundamental right of citizenship but proclaiming American exceptionalism.

Thus considered, no vehicle was more blessed than the Hummer. Based on the Humvee military vehicle, the Hummer was first produced for consumer use in 1992, in part at the suggestion of action-hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. (According to this article, the California governor now has eight.) In December 1999, General Motors acquired the Hummer.

EDIT

But in recent months the Hummer has bogged down. Combined year-over-year sales of the H1 and H2 have fallen for the past five months. In January 2004, just 1,927 Hummers were sold—off nearly 50 percent from December 2003, and down by one third from January 2003. The future doesn't look very bright, either. Business Week reported there are 68 days worth of Hummers in inventory, and that GM has throttled back its 2004 sales forecast from 40,000 to 30,000.

The sales drop reflects simple common sense. The Hummer is a mediocre car, with the quality ratings to show for it. The drop may also reflect a change in the zeitgeist. When you compare the fortunes of the Hummer to those of its opposite—Toyota's hybrid Prius, which can get upwards of 50 miles per gallon—it looks like the market may be shifting. First sold in the United States in 2000, the diminutive Prius remained a curiosity as the Hummer rose to celebrity. But sales rose to about 20,000 in 2002 and to 24,000 in 2003. Since the new 2004 model was introduced in the fall, the Prius has been stomping the Hummer. In November 2003, the Prius outsold the H2 by a 2-to-1 margin, according to Autodata. In January 2004, Prius sales were up 82 percent from January 2003."

EDIT

http://slate.msn.com/id/2096191/

[randr]

1. I guess all the assholes already have one

[SheepyMcSheepster]

2. hehe, that was very witty.

and probably true, only so many people want those things.

[damnyankee2601]

8. Not yet.

Theres plenty more assholes here in Houston that still wish they had one.

[jmcgowanjm]

3. I LOL everytime I see one. CarMart will have them soon

[htuttle]

4. They'll need the spacious interiors of those things...

....to live in once their mortgage gets foreclosed on by the bank.

[Hand]

5. I think the image took a beating...

In Irag, when $50,000 Hummers started getting blown apart by $10 RPG rounds. There's some kind of irony in this, but suddenly I am run over by a truck.

:hippie:

[tridim]

6. I'm going to laugh when everyone starts unloading them

as used cars. Resale value on crappily made, 10mpg, urban assault vehicles is probably not very good when gas costs $3.00+/gallon.

[damnyankee2601]

7. And once again...

The US auto industry has nothing efficient to offer the changing market. Will Shrub bail out GM like Carter bailed out Chrysler? And then, how will the Carter-haters spin it?

[GAspnes]

11. At least Chrysler paid off the loan

and in record time.

[kysrsoze]

13. I don't understand what is wrong with the U.S.

Japanese companies are doing their best to take the market for hybrids and alternative power, while the U.S. car companies concentrate on building gas guzzlers. Although it's not as great an effort, Europe is building some pretty powerful and efficient diesels. Contrast that with Chrysler's Hemis, the Hummer, Cadillac V8s, Ford Expeditions and Mustangs, etc.

Although I really don't like Toyota, I have to give them credit for the hybrids. They already make a profit on every Prius sold. The RX400/Highlander will have hybrid power (V8 powere with a V6 and great mileage) next year. Nissan will also have a hybrid Altima soon. Honda will do an Accord hybrid. I'd love to see a hybrid Pathfinder or G35. That would be something - hopefully coming soon.

If the U.S. subsidized research for hybrids and alternative fuels, they could help U.S. manufacturers grab a huge market share. Instead, they just continue to push massive SUVs and V8s. I will not buy another American car. They build nothing but gas guzzling junk.

[cprise]

14. Europe is way ahead of Japan, IMO

Euros have a much higher level of committment on reducing greenhouse gases, trumping the Japanese (and leaving us in the dust).

Volkswagen has a 95mpg 4-seater diesel with very clean emissions, and in some countries renewable fuel for the diesels (biodiesel) is relatively plentiful... You can run the cars on 100% biodiesel, adding less than 1/10th the CO2 to the atmosphere as a gas powered car, and still pay less at the pump.

Honda now has a newly-designed diesel engine for the Accord in Europe that they intend to make their star attraction. The reviews say the performance is better than gas engines, at least as clean, and a bit less expensive. This engine was so important to Honda, they invented a whole new method of casting aluminum engine blocks to make it possible:

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/1100icmotors/prestigeperformance/features/content_objectid=13542745_method=full_siteid=50002_headline=-Diesel-heaven-from-Honda-name_page.html

(These companies will eventually add hybrid tech to the mix.)


The Volkswagen Lupo 3L TDI has once again proved itself as the world’s most fuel efficient production car by setting yet another record. Gerhard Plattner, an Austrian journalist and economy driving expert, has, for the second time this year, entered the Guinness World Records™ Book in a Volkswagen. Earlier this month Plattner covered a distance of 2,910 miles through 20 European countries in a standard Lupo 3L TDI. He achieved his aim of completing this journey – which started in Oslo, Norway and finished in The Hague in The Netherlands – with just 100 euros worth of fuel. In fact, all he required was 90.94 euros, which corresponds to an average consumption of 2.78 litres per 100 km (101.6 mpg).
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/press/Lupo_3L_in_Guiness_World_Record

[NJCher]

9. oh man, I love it

At the same time, two of my neighbors have these hideous monstrosities. When you consider only 25,000 were sold in '03 and these are '03 models, that's a pretty high a$$*%# concentration for my neighborhood.



Cher

[NNadir]

10. Maybe when the Bushies complete "third worldization" of the US

we can line them up and use them as apartment complexes.

Just a thought.

[Dover]

12. What isn't mentioned in the article is that Toyota also came out with

some monster gas guzzlers to cater to those same assholes, but who also prefer better performance/quality than the Hummer, while still being able to participate whole HOG in the "zeitgeist".