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Can a shift of beaten-down brands into Cadillac orbit ease their pain? A tough road ahead
They're two auto brands with military heritages, but that kind of oughness may not be enough to survive under General Motors Corp.
It has been almost 20 years since GM acquired half of Saab Automobile AB in 1990. It snapped up the rest of Saab in 2000, a year after GM acquired Hummer.
Today, both brands face an uncertain future in the GM family. Hummer, the brand GM acquired from AM General after the vehicle rose to fame during the Gulf War, is under "strategic review." That will probably result in selling Hummer. Meanwhile, Saab, which can trace its heritage to Swedish jets, continues to search for a lucrative niche.
For Hummer, the high price of oil and the vehicle's poster-child status for gas-guzzling SUVs have more than outweighed clever advertising from Boston's Modernista or the fact that Hummer sales have grown in some overseas markets, in small numbers.
Hummer has used "Like Nothing Else" for its tagline under GM. One memorable TV spot for the Hummer H2, to the tune of "Happy Jack" by the Who, showed a boy in a Hummer-inspired soap box derby racer who wins by charging straight down the hill, off-road, while the sleeker cars stick to the road.
Neither Modernista nor Hummer would comment on their plans, but there may not be much to say. Hummer's unit sales under GM peaked at 71,524 in 2006, according to Automotive News, and dropped 21.7% the next year to 55,986. Hummer's U.S. sales plummeted about 40% in the first half of 2008 to only 16,158.
With Saab, the pressure for GM to sell it is stronger than ever especially after rival Ford Motor Co. dumped Jaguar and Land Rover this year. Jesse Toprak, executive director-industry analysis for Edmunds.com, wondered whether GM...