Word: brandes
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...Hummer brand, however, could be on the road to extinction if GM cannot soon finish a deal with China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, the only bidder for the controversial brand. GM announced plans to spin it off while reorganizing under bankruptcy protection this past summer. (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
...staff still assigned to the Hummer continue to work at turning the cast-off brand into an independent company that could continue to sell vehicles around the world. They have lined up a $20.4 million grant from the state of Michigan to put its headquarters in or around Detroit. The grant, however, is contingent on the completion of the deal with Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, according to Michigan state officials...
...which was considering abandoning Hummer even before its financial meltdown, pulled its advertising in the spring and then shut down a Hummer production line in South Africa. Hummer sales have dropped 64% so far this year, more than any other brand in what overall has been a disastrous year for new-vehicle sales. In August, when sales of new vehicles got a boost from the cash-for-clunkers programs, Hummer sales continued to sink, falling 61%. In 2006, Hummer's best year, GM sold more than a 70,000 but this year it might sell only 10,000 units. "Hummer...
...Nevertheless, the Hummer brand has retained a certain appeal, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research by Marius K. Luedicke from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, Craig J. Thompson of the University of Wisconsin and Markus Giesler of York University in Toronto. "Hummer drivers believe they are defending America's frontier lifestyle against anti-American critics," the study notes, adding that Hummer owners employ the ideology of American foundational myths, such as the "rugged individual," and the "boundless frontier...
...study also notes that the Hummer brand has produced an intense backlash, including one Internet site where people have posted thousands of photographs of middle fingers directed at Hummer vehicles and their drivers. "I think GM's board should kill Hummer," says Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign at the Center for Auto Safety and a Hummer critic...