No Longer the Next Big Thing, Hummer Offers First Rebates

[PfcHammer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/business/17HUMM.html

No Longer the Next Big Thing, Hummer Offers First Rebates
By DANNY HAKIM

Published: May 17, 2004

DETROIT, May 16 — Like other Hummer dealers, Jim Lynch is spending millions of dollars to erect a giant glass and steel Quonset hut in Chesterfield, Mo., to replace his dealership near St. Louis. General Motors is insisting that its Hummer dealers plant these fortresses in chic suburbs across America, each announced by a 35-foot-tall "H" out front.

But most dealers are undertaking the ambitious construction project just as Hummer, the loudest and proudest of the giant American sport utility vehicles, has shown signs of losing its swagger.

Sales of the flagship Hummer H2 have fallen for eight consecutive months, and 24 percent in the first four months of the year, compared with the same periods a year earlier. G.M. has resorted to rebates and financing deals, which have become standard for every Detroit brand but Hummer. Inventories piled up as Hummers sat unsold 62 days on average in the first quarter, compared with 15 days a year earlier. And G.M. is now using leases, which are less lucrative than sales, to move a quarter of its volume of H2's, according to J. D. Power & Associates.

"I don't know what it is. I know in some parts of the country it became the poster child for large S.U.V.'s for people who didn't like them," said Mr. Lynch, who has sold Hummers for a decade.

<snip>

[NashVegas]

1. Maybe People Just Figured Out

a hummer is nothing more than a blow job.

[Vladimir]

34. Surely nowhere near as good? n/t

[LiberalFighter]

45. Blow the gas

$2.09 a gallon
and a fillup of 32 gallons
over $66

[DBoon]

2. Meanwhile, there is a 6 month waiting list for Toyota Prius

n/t

[tekriter]

25. I tried to buy a Prius last week, and...

my local dealer quoted me an 8 month waiting list.

Bought a Civic coupe instead, it was nearly $6000 less than the Prius, still gets close to 40 so I don't feel too bad about it.

Traded in a 19-mpg Stratus.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Checked gas prices lately, dipshit?

There's your answer right there. What do these things get, like 9 miles an hour?

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

22. ITYM "9 miles a gallon"

Nobody wants an SUV that goes 9 miles an hour. That's not enough momentum to get a decent blood spatter when you front-end a moose.

[fudge stripe cookays]

24. Ar ar....

[wtmusic]

4. Watch for the new Hummer Mini

:eyes:

[Roon]

12. Don't do this often...

but LOL!!!

[hunter]

38. second that LOL

Hummer Mini... seats two adults and a very small dog.

[HawkerHurricane]

5. Personal opinion:

Hummer: macho toy for those who wouldn't join the Army but like to pretend they did.

Hummer2: fake macho toy for those who wouldn't join the Army but like to pretend they did.

The H2 is a aluminum box vaguely shaped like a Hummer on a entirely different SUV frame. If you are going to play soldier with a $100k toy, at least buy a real one.

[kysrsoze]

13. Here's what the H2 really is....

It's basically thrown together with spare parts from other GM vehicles, much like the Pontiac Fiero took parts from other GM cars. It's an absolute piece of junk - took over for Jeep Grand Cherokee as worst truck on the road for repairs. I checked out one up close at the Chicago auto show and the materials were extremely flimsy. It looked as if you could pull the inside door panel right off. If you need (or just want an SUV), isn't something like a Pathfinder perfectly fine?

This time around, I got a nice sports sedan which gets roughly double the mileage of a Hummer. I didn't go Prius yet b/c I think it's really ugly and I wanted to wait until there are more stylish/performance cars with hybrid engines. They're coming soon though. The RX400 is supposed to be very fast and highly economical (though I think that's ugly too). Nissan will do a hybrid Altima next year and the Accord hybrid is coming soon too. Even Ford is doing an Escape SUV hybrid. They're on the way.

[formernaderite]

28. I've noticed alot of the guys driving Hummers are minorities....

...I live and work in fairly liberal areas of Maryland, and it's just an observation. In fact, sub-contractors I use, both black and hispanic just love that vehicle. The Hummer or the Cadillac Escalade are really the big favorites....the white guys generally drive trucks. Drive the Beltway around to PG County Maryland, and the SUV's get bigger and bigger and it's not contractors driving them. I've gently asked why they drive such a gas guzzler, and they just don't mind the cost and it's the "ride". I can't really go into the whole "Green" aspect of why these are bad vehicles with them...I'm always sensitive to sounding to much like a lefty and turning them off entirely.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

32. It's all whitey driving the Hummer here in Dallas... EOM

[koopie57]

42. We live in a blue collar neighborhood

and on the next street over are crappy duplexes. The kids refer to the block as crime street and there are a lot of lower income people and. I saw a white hummer in the neighborhood and thought it must belong to someone in the neighborhood north of here where the rich dwell. One night I saw it parked in the driveway of one of these duplexes.

[DemoTex]

47. Yep. Lilly white and registered Repukes in Park Cities and Plano ...

.

[Blue_Tires]

48. I also live in P.G.

Hummer/ 'slade heaven here

Guy in my apt. building drives one, and ALWAYS takes up two prime parking spaces, too...i hate him

[PfcHammer]

6. Sierra Club slams Hummer at www.hummerdinger.com, funny...

How Americans use their Hummer H2

Delivering Girl Scout cookies: 16%
Becoming Exxon's customer of the month: 21%
Intimidating fellow man: 46.5%
Hauling "Starving Artists" painting purchases: 4%
Overcoming fear of heights: 12%
Playing hide and seek: 9%
Off-roading: 0.5%

[MrTriumph]

7. Or it could be

I do not know this to be true, but I speculate some buyers have become aware the H2 is little more than a somewhat beefed Chevy pickup at a much higher price.

[JohnyCanuck]

8. www.fuh2.com

One Web site dedicated to what it calls the "ultimate poseur vehicle" has collected 553 photographs from people all over the country giving salutes to Hummers, Hummer executives, Hummer toys and pictures of Hummers in magazines. As one might guess, these are not military salutes. The site's name cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

Probably www.fuh2.com

[ze_dscherman]

19. LOL - from their "inspired works" section

Haiku by Tim


Hulking black Hummer
Purchased in rank atonement
small peckered driver

http://www.fuh2.com/inspiredworks.php

[leftchick]

31. LoL!

That is perfect! :)

[NuttyFluffers]

43. I love one woman's email wish...

wanted to slap a bumper sticker on them: "Hung Like a Hampster and Compensating for it!"

couldn't help but laugh out loud on that one.

[gratuitous]

9. Golly, 7mpg when gas is only $2.50/gal?

Can't imagine why people aren't lining up around the block to buy overpriced hunks of rolling steel that you can't drive from Portland to Seattle without stopping at least twice to fill up!

I remember JD Power did one of their consumer surveys (was it last year?), and the biggest complaint from Humvee owners was that it got poor gas mileage. No indication if their lobotomy is a standard feature, complimentary from the dealer, or a precondition of purchase.

[hatrack]

10. No surprise - they don't even have mpg estimate stickers in the windows

The reason? Simple. The Hummer (like the Excursion) is so big that it is exempt from CAFE standards.

I'm still trying to figure out just what the hell these people were thinking when they complained about "poor gas mileage" - honestly, what the HELL did they expect?

[underpants]

15. Vicious cycle- they use so much gas THEY have driven up demand

When I say THEY I mean all gas guzzlers SUV etc.

They more you consume the higher the demand. It cost so much to drive one because........it costs (consumes) so much to drive one.

[jean]

11. Armor and donate them to US troops in Iraq/Afghanistan/South Korea

These stateside hummers have DOORS unlike the vehicles our troops are being killed and maimed in overseas. Every time I see one here it infuriates me.

Honestly, the company could milk this and end up with a very positive corporate image - armor their overstock up fully and ship to our troops free of charge.

'Hummers ~ doing their part to fight the war on terror'

[kegler14]

14. I would guess that it's not just gas prices...

A recent report showed that the Hummer had the worst record of complaints of any vehicle on the road today, something like 175 complaints per 100 vehicles. The best vehicle had right around 100 complaints per 100. Personally, if I'm gonna pay something like $60,000 for a vehicle, I expect it to work properly.

[Eurobabe]

18. buy a porsche

no complaints and reasonable gas mileage.

[Les BOOGIE]

41. Porsche just nosedived in JD Power rankings 1 >>> 7 n/t

[St. Jarvitude]

44. Mmm... Porsche

I'd like to move to Bavaria some day just so I can relish living in a city where - on one block! - I saw parked:

1 Boxter
2 BMW M3 coupes
1 911
2 BMW Z3s (matching and parked next to each other... *drool*. Wish I had my camera)
1 BMW Z8 !!
1 BMW Z4
1 BMW 645Ci
I think there were a few Mercedes here and there, but I'm not really a big fan of them so I didn't bother to rememer the model numbers.
Of course there were a few Volkswagens (which I love :)), probably Jettas or Golfs (very popular there).
And of course, there were 1 or 2 Audis and Saabs.

This was somewhere in Munich, near the Hofbräuhaus.

If I'm going to blow $60,000+ on a car, it's damn well not gonna be a Hummer.

[Eurobabe]

16. Flip 'em off at every opportunity

My daughter told me last summer that I just flipped off Howie Long!

Tough darts. FUH2!!

[underpants]

17. Note to self:buy Enzyte stock

:bounce:

[AP]

20. War and Terror were supposed to sell these things. Apparently Americans

don't find the war to be a good advertisement to encourage consumption of shit.

[frylock]

21. look for some dealer to torch his inventory for the insurance..

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. I mean, I'm sure there will be a rash of 'eco-terrorist' strikes at these dealerships.

[MisterP]

40. and the college protest organizers arrested and detained for weeks,

and the Green Party members tossed in the klink whenever they go through LAX (how do you keep Dem stalwarts happy? let 'em give the Lynndie treatment to some Greenie scapegoats), and the draining of millions from law enforcement to root out ecoterrists and other subversives, and grandstanding that keeps my PETA friends in stitches, and IHOG members sobbing as Ahnuld delivers an eulogy to the "Hummers who laid their lives down in defense of driving" leaving ME in stitches...
etc., etc.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

23. YES!!!!!!!!!! Down with the "HITLER HUMMER"!!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[joefree1]

26. Ha ha, here's a big Pinkie salute to all Hummer Drivers!

[BiggJawn]

36. I always make the "Teenie Peenie" sign at Hummer pilots...

Hold your thumb and index finger adout an inch apart and grin....

They don't get it. Unless they're female, then they get a look on their faces like "But I don't HAVE a dick?!?"

[stopbush]

27. Here's the JD Power rating on the H2's *quality*

From my earlier thread on DU:

On edit: just in case you're interested, JD Power rates the Hummer H2 as one of the worst SUVs around. They use a five-star rating:

5 = Among the best
4 = Better than most
3 = Does not really stand out
2 = The rest

Hummer H2 scores a lowly 2 in the following categories:

Mechanical quality
Body & Interior quality
Overall quality
Performance

It's scores a not-much-better 3 in

Comfort
Overall appeal
Feature and accessory quality
Features and instrument panel

They give it a 4 for Style.

It doesn't earn a single 5 (top rating).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=8676&mesg_id=8676

[Arugula Latte]

29. I don't see too many where I live

thank goodness (Portland). I'm sure there are more out in the 'burbs. I'm waiting to park next to one so I can slip a note onto the windshield: "What kind of an arrogant, selfish and yet insecure jerk needs to drive one of these monstrosities?"

[natrat]

33. the young Soprano cousin drives one-

idiots who buy these things deserve the hassle they get from them

[fryguy]

30. rebates to pay for the gas it guzzles

what is it, 3 gallons to the mile or something?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

35. But hey, you still got that tax break thing going for you if you use it

for your "personal business" since it weighs 999,999,999,999 tons.

[gorgan]

37. duh!

"I don't know what it is. I know in some parts of the country it became the poster child for large S.U.V.'s for people who didn't like them," said Mr. Lynch, who has sold Hummers for a decade.

Can you say "Market Saturation"? Most of the (limited) number of idiots with the wherewithal who wanted these got them, and now there's much less demand. Simple economics.

[Politicub]

39. The SUV craze is over

Or it's on its last legs. It will go on for a while longer, but this fad had run it course. The Hummer H2 was to be the uber SUV - the SUV for the person who wanted to one up his neighbor's Ford Excursion, Escalate or whatnot.

H2 sales are on the decline, and a steep one at that. The SUV as symbol of status is waning. Witness the fate of the H2.

The SUV trend is declining, and something will fill the trend vacuum that it will leave.

I hope hybrids are the next craze. If popular media is any predictor of trends, signs seem to be pointing in that direction.

[scarface2004]

46. can i get a hummer?

and bush is a fucking asshole too!!