A Brief History

Hummers were first designed by AM General Corporation, and they are a subsidiary of American Motors Corporation. They were founded around 25 years ago and introduced to the vehicle market their M998 Humvee. They had a few popular models available throughout the years, and they were mostly recognized for their size as well as their ruggedness and strength.

Their assembly plant is in Indiana and it started out when the US Army required contracts for a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle in 1979. They were awarded the contract and the first models were built. Their first contract was worth $1.2 billion to provide 55,000 Humvees.

In 1992 the company started selling a civilian version of the Humvee. This was marketed under the popular brand name. In 1999, AM General sold the Hummer brand to General Motors. General Motors introduced two new designs, namely the H2 and the H3, shortly thereafter. They also renamed their original vehicle the H1, which was built until it was discontinued in 2006.

The company then started to export to more than 30 countries and GM started to produce the Hummer H3 in its South Africa plant located in Port Elizabeth. These vehicles were originally all left-hand drive, but right-hand drive versions were added for export to certain countries.

In 2009 it was revealed that the brand would be discontinued, however, it was sold to a Chinese company. Later that year it was announced that the deal has collapsed and that the Hummer brand would soon shut down. The last H3 rolled out on May 24th, 2010.

Popular Hummer Models

Their H1 is one of the first and most popular vehicles made by the company. It was based on the original Humvee and released in 1992 and it was designed by American Motors. Then there is also the H2 which was the second vehicle in their range. This vehicle came in two different variations, the H2 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and the H2 Sport Utility Truck (SUT). The H3 truck was the smallest in their range of vehicles and was based on the GMT355 platform. This platform was also shared with a Chevrolet Colorado as well as the GMC Canyon pickup truck.

AMA also had a range of concept vehicles available which came in different variations as well as various specifications. When you think of Hummer you think of big, powerful, indestructible vehicles. That's what's so unique about this brand. Hummer will forever be synonymous with size and power, and quite frankly, simply a brand in a class of its own.