Maybe GM Should Just Give Hummer Away

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The deal to sell Hummer, General Motors’ infamous, quasi-military, ultra-SUV brand to the Chinese seemed to have fallen through this week. But wait! Reports are emerging that GM is resurrecting some old bids for the brand. Dollar signs haven’t yet been provided, but one suspects they’re probably south of the $150 million GM was expecting from heavy-equipment-maker Sichuan Tengzhong. That was a sub-sub-bargain basement price. The question now is, “How low can the General go?”

How about free? Seriously: At this point, it could cost GM more to wind Hummer down than to simply arrange for a transfer of the brand to another company. GM might want to keep the Hummer plant in Louisiana, but the nameplate could easily be left out in front of the Renaissance Center, GM's headquarters in downtown Detroit, with a handwritten “free stuff” sign on it.

If you think this is a silly proposition, consider that it cost GM more that $1 billion to shut Oldsmobile down in 2004. By then, Olds was kind of a worthless brand, selling a range of products duplicated elsewhere in the GM universe. It needed to go, but putting it out of its misery wasn’t cheap. 

Hummer, on the other hand, still stands for something, has a devoted fan base, and as a set of vehicle designs, has distinguished itself as something of a trans-SUV: Hummers can be used for the kind of hardcore off-road pursuits that would out an end to a lesser SUV. Somebody somewhere has to know this and would be unable to resist placing that trophy—that free trophy—on the mantel. “Hey guys, have you seen my Hummer?” would take on a whole new meaning.