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Hummer ends where it started

The fascinating arc of the Hummer – the big, boxy all-wheel drive vehicles that came to symbolize the strength of the United States – ended Monday when the last model was driven from the assembly line.

NBC News reported the end of the production line for Hummer.

An offer from a Chinese company in Sichuan province to buy the brand and continue selling Hummers never cleared approval from Chinese regulators.

Given China’s mountainous terrain and truly rugged areas – remember, people refer to many of its Western provinces as the mountaintop of the world – I was certain there were the elite in that country who would want to drive one and roll over the rocks beneath them.

That country’s new elite - whether they’re in business or government - really are participating in a new awakening. Years ago, I spotted people, presumably the more privileged, driving Toyota Land Cruisers in China’s mountainous regions to get around. 

With Chinese regulators nixing the purchase, General Motors stopped production.

The popular H2 model began showing up in the U.S. market in 2002.

In 2002 and 2003, I worked as a journalist across the street from a Hummer dealer. I saw them sitting in a row, waiting for customers to drop by and snatch them up.

I visited and chatted with a Hummer representative about H2 sales. His answer: Good.

He showed me a national wire story about the federal government offering tax deductions, at the time, to independent businesspeople who owned cars, vans or trucks over a certain gross vehicle weight.

I poked around and interviewed a Seattle-area accountant. His calculation: An independent businessperson could write off nearly $38,000 from the purchase of a H2, which could cost $50,000 to $60,000.

Of course, the national uproar was brewing because Detroit-based automotive writers had produced articles pointing out this loophole.

I did what any regional newspaper reporter would do – I localized the story.

What I found out was that the gross vehicle weight deduction, essentially, for just a very heavy vehicle, was intended for small businesses, such as a painting or construction company.

Those employees lug thousands of pounds of equipment and supplies from location to location as part of their legitimate business duties.

But the loophole, which was allowed at the time, enabled real estate agents or doctors who ran their own business to buy the bulky, all-wheel drive Hummers and take the deduction.

The loophole has since been closed.

Yes, even in 2002, there was tension and criticism given that heavier vehicles, which by definition, typically have lower fuel mileage than a lighter sedan.

Even earlier this year, the Hummer came under some legitimate and sharp comments from Vanity Fair blogger Christopher Bateman.

Read his blog entry, but here’s one of his takes:

It was a slow, unwieldy behemoth, and it was not particularly attractive aesthetically. It was all but intended to intimidate other drivers, to exercise a kind of military hegemony on the road. It practically goes without saying that it was the ultimate fuck-you to the environment, something that seemed to delight many of its owners, some of whom plastered theirs with bumper stickers celebrating war and global warming. And it was a terrible long-term business investment by GM. With the death of the Hummer, America has a chance to forever bury the perverse cultural forces that gave birth to it and made it popular.

As Chinese companies look to acquire others, I was a bit surprised that regulators in that country blocked the sale.

Bateman raises legitimate questions about the vehicle. But many Chinese companies these days are in hot pursuit of luxury.

Perhaps, and this is speculation, regulators looked at the economics of the vehicles and also knew that there is concern that the Chinese economy might overheat, especially as people borrow from banks to finance multiple real estate purchases.

While China’s real estate market is soaring and people really are participating in the free market, there are concerns of a bubble.

On Hummer’s official website, models can still be purchased.

In summer school years ago, I enrolled in an economics class. The instructor enjoyed talking about the big SUVs that people bought.

His analysis was that gas really wasn’t that expensive at that time because people still flocked to dealerships and bought big SUVs.

He would only be convinced, he said, of high gas prices once the popularity of SUVs dropped in the United States.

Years later, Hummer, in many ways, fits that description.

I guess the other question is: Do we need all-terrain vehicles that are as big as Hummers?

Or is this the result of a product not faring so well in the free market?

Yes, I have written about the end of things – paper airplane tickets and toilets in Seattle. I am very aware of how the free market and technologies in it have transformed the journalism world.

I suppose the answer to the Hummer question depends on where you live, what your needs are and how much you want to spend on gas.

But given the Great Recession, the worst in about 70 years, it is easy to see why the trend for more fuel-efficient vehicles is growing.

Add to that the growing awareness of the environment and what humans have done to it.

When I’ve traveled in China’s outback – its rugged mountains – I often rode in rickety-old buses. People next to me smoked cigarettes. The buses might have been so old that they used leaded fuel.

Yes, I know China these days is pushing for more greener fuel technologies.

But at the time, in the mid-1990s, I hopped on board the buses that were available. I’m glad they took me to my next destination.

The areas that I had the opportunity to visit were remote and truly opened my eyes to how others live. These areas are probably more traveled these days.

But I thought: If this bus breaks down and I’m stranded – even far from a village or township – how would I get back to places with lots of people and food?

While my hiking boots were in good shape, I only carried so much water and food in my backpack.

A friend traveled in the mountains of Sichuan once and the weather was so cold that yaks were dying in large numbers and the restaurants where she stayed in the mountains were open but had no food.

She finally made it out to Xining, a city in Qinghai province, by hitching a frigid ride in a 1950s or 1960s era truck.

Given that context, yes, I would take a ride in a Hummer or Land Cruiser or even on a bicycle if I became stranded in a remote part of the world.

In the movie, Kekexili, a member of an anti-poaching unit that patrols the Qinghai-Tibet region caught a man who trafficked in indigenous animals whose numbers were dwindling.

The movie is based on a true story. In it, the poacher who was caught later walked from the mountains and back to civilization.

Fortunately, all the buses I rode on in China made it to their destinations.