09-29-2006, 12:52 AM
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HUMMER Needs To Add Two More Vehicles According To Bob Lutz
Bob Lutz Speaking at the opening of a Hummer Dealership in Paris recently:
Hummer brand needs to double its product line-up by adding two or three more models, the executive charged with GM's product planning told reporters on Wednesday.
"Hummer needs some more products. It needs two or three more products to give it sufficient market coverage," General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told reporters at the opening of a Hummer dealership in Paris.
Lutz said making a Hummer-branded pickup truck, which would have ample passenger seating, remained an "option."
Earlier this year GM faced pressure from activist investor Kirk Kerkorian to consider spinning off Hummer, which began as a high-mobility vehicle produced for the U.S. military.
But GM executives have argued that the brand is central to the automaker's strategy as it moves to cut costs, shore up market share and return to profitability in the U.S. market.
Sales of Hummer were up almost 50 percent in the first 8 months of this year. By contrast, GM's overall sales were down 12 percent.
Hummer currently has three models: the H1, H2 and H3. GM announced earlier this year it would stop production of the original H1 Hummer, the biggest of the three.
The H3, which is built on GM's pickup truck platform, accounts for about three-quarters of the brand's current sales.
Hummer, which GM bought in 1999, has acquired both fervent fans like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and outspoken critics who see the heavy SUVs as a symbol of American consumer excess and dependence on foreign oil.
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