US Hummer sales down 54.8%

I heard that they’re giving a R60k discount on Hummers here in SA too!

Much has been written about HUMMER vehicles and their effect on the environment. To put HUMMER sales into perspective, they are but a very small part of GM’s brand/product portfolio and in fact globally HUMMER sales account for just 0.91% of 9,1m global sales (2006); 0.71% of 9,4m global sales (2007) and just 0.48% of 4,54m sales through the first 6 months of 2008.

GM sells far more Chevrolet vehicles, which are more family oriented smaller cars, than any other GM product accounting for just under half of our total sales (48% of 4,54m units through the first 6 months of 2008). Its interesting that the rock-throwers target HUMMER as the poster child for all that is wrong with large SUV’s - by now most would have seen in recent print ad’s that the HUMMER H3 (the only HUMMER sold in SA)is below the segment average fuel consumption according to CAR magazine.

At GM, we take our responsibility to improve our environmental footprint seriously (see www.gmability.com)and welcome debate on the issue as many myths and misperceptions are in the public space. Of course we are not perfect but we have made huge strides in the last 5-10 years in particular not only with the efficiency of our vehicles but also with our manufacturing sites, waste management and recycling efforts.

We are at the forefront of development into alternative fuels and propulsion systems and annually spend billions of dollars on related R&D that are frankly not recoverable in the selling price of the vehicles.

Some experts comments made at the Paris Auto Show (on at the moment) is that the take up of electric and hybrid vehicles is not likely to exceed 10% of the total new vehicle sales in the next 5-20 years!

Perhaps most of us want to do the “right thing” but we are not prepared to pay more for the privilige nor are we prepared to sacrifice the flexibility (range); power (in most cases other than the very expensive hybrids) or hassle factor (plugging in etc) that plug-in hybrids or electric cars will force by way of behaviour change.

Hi Tim,

Thank you for visiting GreenCars. Your points are duly noted. In our defense though, GreenCars has stated in the past that the Hummer is no worse than other SUVs but rather that it seems to have become the poster child for un-eco friendly vehicles everywhere. This might be perceived as unfair, but myths and misperceptions abound regarding other vehicles too - the old “Hummer is greener than a Prius” comes to mind.

In addition, we have given coverage to the “green” credentials of The General and have been keeping a close eye on your very exciting Volt concept. General Motors has played a key role historically in the development of electric vehicles (although their decision to scrap all the EV1s on American roads wasn’t very popular) and currently seem to be putting a lot of R&D into cleaner motoring.

We have also given coverage to conventional petrol and diesel engined vehicles that don’t sacrifice flexibility, power or hassle factor, but that are still relatively eco-friendly. Unfortunately, the Hummer (and 99% of all other SUVs on our roads) is a large, gas-guzzling beast of a vehicle that almost never gets used off road by most consumers. So maybe it is possible to do somewhat of the “right thing” and not drive around in a monster SUV with 22″ chrome rims and low profile tyres, while still driving a car that meets the criteria you mentioned?

Hi Carl

At least society in general is at least discussing these important issues. Education and awareness is the first step to realising there are choices out there - they just need to be informed.