The New York Times reports that the GM has agreed to sell its Hummer SUVs and trucks to the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd., a western Chinese machinery company that would like to start making cars. (Some advice from American experience: Don't make Hummers.)
The deal, which analysts predicted would be around $500 million, represents the final insult to a company that rose to prominence in the early years of the Iraq war, as Americans shared in the aesthtic experience of road combat. Back in 2003, when Hummers were selling like hotcakes or war rationales, corporate spokeswoman Heather Hal said this about her brand: "The folks who buy Hummer are confident, self-assured and entrepreneurial. They like the vehicle because they see in it what they see in themselves." So let's applaud China's confidence, self-assuredness and entrepreneurship. The symbol of American gratuity will soon be transporting heavy duty in central Asia. Welcome to Fareed Zakaria's world.
Try $100-200 million and rest assured the author Derek Thompson drives a foreign car and is intimidated due to the lack of knowledge of what a Hummer truely is. Call me when you need to be towed out of the ditch, and my H3T only has a 5 cylinder motor!!!!!
Nothing symbolizes American excess and arrogance like a Hummer. The brand is not as much a vehicle as a political statement. I've often wondered about the correlation between Hummer ownership and handgun ownership. Both are products that appeal to insecure, under-endowed males.
They really aren't much bigger than minivans or work vans. Get over yourself.
I've got a neighbor who's got two of those things. Talk about tacky. They are actually quite a bit larger than minivans as they don't even fit in their garages! So tacky.
What Sarah Smith is really trying to say is that she is not a big fan of Horatio Caine.
And why shouldn't China, who is the largest lender to the US government, have a distinctly American souvenir? They should buy Sikorsky Aircraft as well so our soldiers can be completly transported to war zones by purely foriegn interests. (Yes, I know that AMC no longer owns Hummer, but the joke doesn't work without some blurring of facts.) By the way, I own a VW and a hand gun. I guess I am only half insecure...
I'd only be outraged if I were a shareholder in this Chinese company.
For China, it has been a Long March to Vehicular Victory.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/the-ink-is-red/
Question, does this mean that China will be building vehicles for our Amercian soldiers? Or is this only the civilian part of the operation? Or has the military moved on from the Hummer? I guess those are three questions.
H3 Owner speaking, Well the comment about your neighbor owning 2 Hummer is tacky.How??? Sounds a little bit jealous to me. Why should you care who's driving what? At least it was American made. Most of my neighbors drive foriegn cars & thats why we are in trouble now!!!!!!!!!!!! Go figure... & yes i'm a girl.