I wouldnt be suprised if the current Hummer H1 gets replaced with a version of the next-gen Suburban around 2008.

I heard in the rumor-mill the the 2008 Surburban might even have additional suicide doors to make entry to the 3rd row easier (3 doors on each side).

A more affordable H1 built-off the next-gen Suburban would be drasticly cheaper then the current Army-issue $100,000 H1 and would only help increase Hummers sales along with a smaller $35,000 H3 and maybe even a $25,000 H4.

 

That would never happed, the current Hummer perfect for what the DOD needs, maybe it will get a big block or the new 6.6L Diesel, but that is probably about it. Suburban/Silverado chassis would suck compared to the current Hummers. + Having the the be offraod vehical is more importand than the cost. If a new H1 came out AM general would peobably design it from the ground up.

 

I never stated that a suburban based H1 would be for military use since its rather obvious that the current army-issue H1 was created for the Army in the first place.

I do think a new civilian H1 would be better suited to be built off the next-gen surburban since it could be produced and sold alot cheaper.

I doubt the current Army-issue H1 will be able to meet future regulations that will be imposed on future Suv's and trucks.

 

The whole point of the H1 is so civilians can have what the Military drives.

 

Interesting thoughts.

However, keep one thing in mind. GM, as well as all other manufacturers have a thing called a "sales and service agreement" between the manufacturer and the dealer. It is a longgggggg legal document. (interestingly, we don't have francises....they are 'sales and service agreements') It is almost impossible to do what you suggest simply because what do you do with the existing dealer body? We sure found out how difficult it can be when we made the announcement about Oldsmobile. (I won't even attempt to go into that can of worms......)

I can tell you that GM has a "channel strategy"...meaning that there is a plan to re-align divisional nameplates within a dealership.

In Canada, almost all Chevy dealers had Oldsmobile. Similarly, almost all Pontiac Dealers have Buick. Cadillac tends to float. IN the U.S. this isn't so.........there are all kinds of alignment....Chevy/Pontiac, Chevy/Buick, Buick/Olds, and so on.

There are, perhaps too many nameplates...on the other hand, the agreement says the manufacturer will provide products that allow the dealer to make a return on his/her investment. With a new product program costing over a Billion dollars, there is gonna be crossover...and blurred lines. Is it the right thing to do? Well....it is if you want to stay in business.

In a perfect world, there would not be these problems.

Now..with that all said, there are some interesting points in this thread!

 

Ok...since when does Buick have to attract young buyers? The simple answer is, they DON'T. What they need to do is bring their median age down from mid 60s to early 50s, and maintain it...that shouldn't be THAT out of whack...

And there is nothing wrong with Saturn a re-skin of the Ion won't fix. VUEs are doing well, the Ion coupe is fine, and the L series is due for an overall soon anyways. What I think will hurt Saturn more is that a Saturn will not BE Saturn anymore...a Saturn without plastic panels is a Chevy, guys...

That 140 day supply is Ion sedans, not the whole line! Buick will be fine with some redesigns, and they will NOT, I repeat, NOT get rid of Buick. Olds taught them what it takes to get rid of a car line these days...won't happen.

All 3 divisions noted in here are slated for big things in the years to come...I say we just let them be...the only one that concerns me a little is Saturn...plastic panels are a big part of the appeal of a Saturn...

 

I don't think GM needs to get rid of brands, they just need to organize them better. Sure there is a lot of overlap, but that is because there are too many of the same types of cars, not too many brands.

There is no reason the worlds largest automaker shouldn't have a car for every niche.

Where is the GM version of:
- affordable RWD 2+2 coupe
- AWD cars
- Turbo cars
- affordable large RWD sedans
- affordable small RWD cars
- Hybrid cars
- Diesel cars
- affordable Convertables
- $75K super luxury cars (even VW make one now)
- Exotic Sports car
- Manual transmission cars

GM seems to have truck covered on all front (except a Lightning fighter )

 

An article I read years back stated that GM almost changed the name of Oldmobile (and its logo) to "Aurora" to coincide with first Aurora sedan.

Gm decided that the Olds name had too much history to kill-off so they decided to keep it and just call the all-new luxury sedan (at the time) the Aurora. Ironically, even when Olds unveiled the Aurora sedan it didnt even have the Old's logo or name on it initially (if ever).

So while GM decided to keep the Olds name they ended up killing off the whole brand in the process eventhough that last all-new Olds were actually pretty good cars but they just couldnt shake the old-man stigma of Oldsmobile.

I never said I want GM to kill Saturn or Buick, just change the name to Opel to coinicide with European Opel designs in the US that reflect a new direction to target a younger and more affluent buyer.

While I understand the importance of the Canadian market its odd that the entire population of Canada is smaller then the population of just California alone. This does not even take into consideration that many of us SoCal car-nuts own at least 3 or more cars as well (enough for 3 Canadas )