Down to Earth Blog

What I forgot to mention in my last post was that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first one to buy a Hummer; indeed, according to that Mirror story, he asked American Motors to build it after the first U.S. Gulf War. So the fact that Arnold has come full circle by selling his Hummers is remarkable.

But it does not seem to reflect any sort of trend, according to this demoralizing story, "GM Exec: Hummer Needs New Models." In it, GM says they want to add more models to the Hummer line, "to give it sufficient market coverage." GM argues that the Hummer brand is central to its strategy to become profitable again.

And "Sales of Hummer were up almost 50 percent in the first eight months of this year. By contrast, GM's overall sales were down 12 percent."

So despite high gas costs, the war in Iraq and global warming, more people are buying gas-guzzling Hummers. GM's other brands are not selling that well, but instead of planning to boost those brands, GM wants to sell more Hummers.

I'm disappointed that more people are buying Hummers. These vehicles are Bummers: inefficient gas hogs. It's patriotic to reduce our reliance on oil and gasoline, including foreign oil from places such as Iraq. Buying a Hummer doesn't do that. Also, Hummers pollute more (and thus contribute more to global warming) because they burn more gas (and create more exhaust) than other cars do to go the same distance.

I'm also disppointed that GM is focusing on creating more types of Hummers. What they should do instead is create more fuel-efficient cars. Hey, maybe even a hybrid!  What an idea!  I think they are the last big automker to make a hybrid. If you look at lists of best fuel-economy cars by class, GM is nowhere to be seen. Sad.

Technorati Tags: Hummer, GM, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Global Warming, Gasoline

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