According to other media reports, GM is considering resurrecting its off-road vehicle brand, the Hummer, although it is rumored to be returning as an electric vehicle. Of course, this news has not yet been officially confirmed by General Motors, and it is not yet known whether Hummer will really make a comeback and whether it will come back as a pure electric vehicle.
Even so, the news that Hummer is "about to be resurrected" has spread widely on the Internet, and netizens have been unable to hold back and have started a wave of heated discussions, which also shows the appeal of Hummer.
In May this year, the Hummer China project team inspected the Zhongjing New Energy Vehicle Park and the supporting land for new energy vehicles.
The history of the rise and fall of the "King of Off-Road".
There is no shortage of classic models in the off-road vehicle market, whether it is the discontinued Land Rover Defender, Toyota FJ, or the currently on sale Pajero, Wrangler and G-Class, they are the best in off-road vehicles, but if you talk about who can afford the title of "king of off-road vehicles", it is probably only Hummer.
The birth of the Hummer can be seen as a coincidence of opportunity, when the US military urgently needed a military vehicle with high mobility and ability to adapt to various road conditions, and the HMMWV off-road vehicle launched by AMG won the bid steadily, and was subsequently equipped in large quantities to the troops, and this off-road vehicle called HMMWV was the prototype of the early Hummer, so having a military background is one of the most significant characteristics of the Hummer.
Later, thanks to its outstanding performance in the war, Hummer became famous, and many fans had the desire to buy, among which the famous actor Schwarzenegger, who played the "Terminator", strongly requested to buy an HMMWV, AMG company thought that "idle is idle, it is better to get HMMWV to the civilian market, there must be a wave of profits", so the civilian version of HMMWV, that is, Hummer H1 was officially born, and Hummer began a new journey.
However, as the saying goes, "not afraid of being stolen, afraid of being remembered", General Motors saw the huge market potential of Hummer, decisively "chopped" to buy Hummer, and accelerated the launch of new Hummer cars, in 2003 launched Hummer H2, in 2005 Hummer H3 arrived, so far Hummer "Big Three" are all in place, into the peak period, not only in the United States market sold well, in the Chinese market, Hummer is also very popular, the extended version of Hummer has almost become the wedding standard.
But then the Hummer still went downhill, because the Hummer itself gradually exposed a lot of problems, first of all, the quality problem, the Hummer workmanship is relatively rough, often small failures, maddening, and the repair cost is relatively expensive; and then the oil price soared, the Hummer fuel consumption problem began to highlight (rumored to be 20+ fuel consumption per 100 kilometers, a foot on the accelerator for a dollar); finally Hummer this large displacement model, incompatible with environmental protection policies, become a "typical negative teaching material"...... Hummer faces a very unfavorable situation.
And the "last straw" that crushed the Hummer was the arrival of the global financial crisis. In this financial turmoil, GM could not protect itself and chose to dispose of the Hummer brand, but there was no next company to take over. On April 6, 2010, GM convened a meeting of 153 Hummer dealers and decided to officially start the process of shutting down the production line of the Hummer and no longer produce any model of the Hummer model.
Since then, Hummer has officially "bid farewell to the rivers and lakes", and the former "king of off-road" is gone, which is also due to the discontinuation of Hummer, which has triggered a series of chain reactions, and many classic off-road models have been withdrawn from the market one after another, making people sigh.
Why Resurrection?
On the occasion of 8 years of discontinuation, why did GM choose to resurrect the Hummer?
The first point has to do with GM's future plans.
As the new energy market has become the general trend, many old car companies are also vying to join, General Motors CEO Mary Barra has said that the future will be "the era of pure electric vehicles", General Motors is stepping up the development of the next generation of electric vehicles.
It is understood that there are two main electric vehicle projects currently being carried out by General Motors: the first is based on the BEV3 architecture, including the development of passenger cars, crossover off-road vehicles and various other small and medium-sized pure electric models, and second, it will produce electric pickup trucks and other full-size vehicles, some of which can meet the needs of off-road driving.
As a well-known off-road vehicle brand, Hummer was very much in line with the needs of the second project.
And this leads to the second point, with the help of its own strong influence, Hummer has the capital of resurrection.
Even though it has been discontinued for 8 years, the legend of the "King of Off-Road" has always been there, and the fans of Hummer have always been there, whether it is in the Hummer post bar or related forums, Hummer fans are still very active, and I believe that off-road fans all over the world are also the same.
And this high sense of identity with the brand, this off-road feeling from Hummer, is far from being comparable to a new brand, and Hummer also has the capital to be resurrected.
Third, the appearance of Hummer as an electric off-road image is conducive to enhancing GM's influence in the field of electric vehicles.
Hummer, which has previously been shown as a "high fuel consumption" image, which can be described as two extremes with "zero emission" electric vehicles, General Motors can take advantage of this huge contrast before and after, emphasizing its determination to enter the pure electric vehicle market, gain more attention, and enhance its influence in the field of pure electric vehicles.
Fourth, we should make use of the "Hummer feelings" of the Chinese people to establish our own advantages.
Chinese people have a deep affection for Hummer (once when General Motors was looking for a home for Hummer, it chose Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industry, which attracted a lot of applause, but unfortunately the cooperation failed), and on the other hand, China has become the world's largest pure electric vehicle market (in 2018, China's electric vehicle sales accounted for more than half of the global sales), and GM's resurrection of Hummer can make good use of Hummer's influence in China and establish its advantages in China's pure electric vehicle market.
But the electric "Hummer", can you accept it?
However, because the Hummer was too impressed, many fans could not accept the fact that the Hummer would become an electric car after its resurrection, and it can be seen from the messages of forum netizens that many people think that "the electrified Hummer will lose its soul", which reminds me of the Land Rover Discovery 5 turn around the sissy, once the feelings that have been built up hard before are shattered, the next thing is likely to be a rout in the market.
Some classic models and classic brands, even if they choose to stop production one day, at least the feelings are still there, and the original beauty is still there, but the resurrection of Hummer in the form of electric vehicles is a challenge for fans who once supported it, and it may not be easily accepted.