by Energon » Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:27 pm
GM made numerous tactical errors with the Hummer line. First thing they did is take the Hummer, double the price, change the engine and interior and call it an H1 turn it into a "Brand" and they lost their clientele of which I am intimately familiar with. Then they came out with the H2 which was an embarrasment that got about 8 mpg. The original "H1 gas vehicles got about 10 mpg which was aweful and they discontinued the gas versions after marketing them for two years, but this was before the days of GM. AM General saw the problem and corrected it and went back to diesels.
GM sold more H2's in the first quarter than H1's were ever made over 12 years of production. Once the reality of owning an H2 and getting the poor mileage and that certain different clientele hit, sales dropped off rapidly after they got a bad rap. Again, they were trying to make them some kind of luxury vehicle. GM was making the Hummer line "self important" and even required all dealers that sold H2's to build expensive showrooms that all look similar in design. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I used to work for GM many years ago and know how they think. I, for one, am glad to see them get rid of Hummer, Pontiac or whatever else is dogging them. They need to wise up! I had always owned at least one GM vehicle, but now drive Ford's and still have my AM General truck (pre-GM).
I am disappointed that Transformers seems to be a big car advertisement. I wish they had picked something that did not need licensing, like generic looking cars. I never cared for movies that were just advertisements. I am pretty sure that that is what TF2 is. Just flood the movie with Cars and things to make loads of toys. It is not about the movie, it is about the marketing of stuff.