They were maligned by many, loved by a few, and likely confusing to most, but no matter what feelings the site of a GM Hummer on the road evoked within an onlooker, no one can contend that the end of the Hummer brand name marks the end of a modern trend in the American automotive industry. The last Hummer H3 rolled off the assembly line in a Louisiana plant yesterday with nary a whimper.
I must confess that the site of a Hummer on a roadway always brought about repulsion within. I couldn’t ever understand why someone would choose to drive such a behemoth alongside, for instance, a Volkswagen Beetle. After all, were the Hummer to get in an accident with anything other than a semi-truck, the person on the receiving end would almost certainly come out a very sore loser. (Alright, so maybe that’s actually a selling point) 
It still seemed dangerous.
Nonetheless, there are numerous other reasons for people not to have purchased a Hummer, such as dreadful gas mileage, an expensive price tag, an awkward shape for parking it anywhere, and a turning radius that is less than optimal in an urban environment. Yet for many years the Hummer brand stood quite strong and maintained a level of profitability before the recession hit.
Alright, so I do know why folks purchased the Hummer, at least in part – it was, if nothing else, a status symbol. But here is the interesting trend. One website notes the average income of the Hummer customer was between $75,000 and $125,000. Comfortable income levels, for sure, but nothing near what most people consider “wealthy” status. During this recession most “wealthy” folks have been able to maintain their lifestyles effectively while just about everyone else has been forced to adapt, and in many cases, scale back their spending and consumption. The rise and fall of the Hummer seems to correlate with the financial ascendancy and decline of a particular white collar, urban class.
So here are some questions that I have without answers. Was the Hummer brand a casualty of a downwardly mobile consumer base, or was the Hummer brand something that lost its appeal over time by not maintaining its high brand status with its consumers? If the latter, what brand of automobile have these consumers turned to? Moreover, do you think public opinion played a role in Hummer’s demise?
Oh Hummer, never again will I get to place a shiny copper penny on the road, duck behind a bush, and wait for your 4,700 pounds to coast by and flatten it. I guess I’ll just have to return to the train tracks again, and that’s alright – you never did much of a good job flattening Abe Lincoln anyway.
4 Responses
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lsmaagaard Says:
You really bring up some interesting points about the Hummer and a very funny comment about the selling point. Although I am certain that it wasn’t intended as a fad, the Hummer certainly seemed to have a short life cycle as a consumer product. This would be an interesting product to study and I can add a question from marketing: What environmental factors contributed to the demise of the Hummer? Also, didn’t Hummer at one time introduce a small version of the classic Hummer? The case of the Hummer reminds me of the fur industry. When a product gets a lot of negative press, it is difficult to change perceptions. Even if a consumer wants to drive a Hummer while wearing a fox coat, they might reconsider because of the potential conflicts that could occur. I have seen both the Hummer and fur coats in product placement ads attempting to change consumer attitudes. However, no amount of promotion can turn around a product that is accelerating toward the end of the product life cycle.
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stephenmkelly Says:
Environmental factors? That’s something I didn’t consider all that much, but you’re right Lynn, the Green Movement couldn’t of helped Hummer in any way. It’s life cycle was very, very short, which is one reason I wondered if it didn’t accomplish exactly what its consumer base wanted. People who drive Hummer’s can’t be oblivious to the reviling they receive from others on the road, and perhaps as more Hummer drivers became aware of how others “actually” saw them, they abandoned hubris and adopted a new social conformity. I wonder how many of these former Hummer drivers are switching to Audis or Beamers, cars that attract the attention of people in a positive way while still indicating “look at me, I drive a luxury vehicle.”
I want an Audi…
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Judy Evenson Says:
I’m reminded of a time in my own life where about 30 years ago when I read an article title “You Drive Who You Are”. At the time for a variety of reasons I was driving a very used Chevy something or another that had a hole in the trunk, one door that wouldn’t open but quite serviceable by mechanical standards and PAID FOR! I remember reading the article, turning to my husband to share the content and asking “so what am I? a bag lady?” and that was the end of that car.
Is it possible that the hummer no longer made the statement to a signficant number of people “that… the hummer is exactly how I see myself” – thus… its demmise was a given when that happened?
So my question to leave you with is… “what do you drive? and what does it say about who you are?”
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stephenmkelly Says:
Judy, you have some of the coolest (and often very entertaining) stories!
I remember when I was a fledgling student at the University of Minnesota, and a friend of mine told me that the American class system can largely be mapped through automobiles. I didn’t believe him. Two anthropology degrees later I know there’s some truth behind that statement.
In fact, one need look no further than our resident Nuer and Somali communities. In east Africa these people would measure a man’s social status through cattle. The more cattle a man has, the more status he holds. But when these people migrate to America they of course can no longer use cattle to signify status. So what do they turn to? You guessed it – automobiles. I’m not exactly familiar with how they measure the system (quality or quantity?), but nevertheless, these sharp people look at our culture and they know intuitively what they should adopt to replace cattle.
I drive a Mercury Cougar. In 2000 when I purchased it, it was a seriously hot ride, and I truly did impress some dates with it. Still have the car today, but its in rougher shape.
