IndyHummers
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 276
- Location
- Murfreesboro, TN
Spent the whole day today with the Canadian Hummer Club in my hometown of South Bend at AM General. We toured both the Military and Commercial plants and saw lots of HMMWV's and the MV1 which is the handicap taxi that AMG is producing in the former H2 building. Keep in mind, most of the machinery was retooled to build the MV1 but I did find it interesting that a HUGE percentage of the body shop machinery is not in use and is still capable of producing H2 panels at this very moment. Don't hold your breath though. Found out that the H1 plant is only producing about 24 trucks a day. Sad considering they used to do upwards of 80 a day. They did develop a new body style for the Air Force which was pretty cool to see.
Now, for the BIG news! It's no shock that one of the most frequent questions AM General receives is why was the H1 production stopped and when will it continue. I am pleased and proud to report that The Canadian Hummer Club were the first civilians to hear the official word. First of all the official real reason why the H1 was cancelled boiled down to money and tougher regulations from EPA and DOT, etc. From what we were presented today, GM wanted to add another gear to the transmission to increase drivability. To do this, they needed to go through and recertify everything. New crash tests, the whole lot, in total they were expected to spend 10 million dollars just for an extra gear. Very hard to swallow, especially when you're only selling 1,000 units a year. Now, with that out of the way, I answer the second major question.
Pending 50 orders, and 10% deposits received. AM General has confirmed today that they will be producing the Humvee C Series, a 100% authentic, produced by AM General, kit car. The only way were ever going to get new H1's is for them to offer a 95% complete vehicle minus engine, transmission, and t case, along with a few trim items which I'll explain later. This gets around the EPA and other agencies testing policies.
GM still owns the Hummer name and any commercially unique trait of the H1. Therefor, nothing on this vehicle can still be there if it was exclusively available on the civilian H1. Meaning, the 7 slot grill, stays and overall look and feel of the truck. What goes is leather interior, car radio, power windows, power locks, door mounted mirrors, heated windshield, hard doors, and as funny as it sounds, glossy paint, along with a few other little details like a speedometer. So, essentially what you are getting is a "legal" HMMWV. The C Series comes in a four man soft top configuration with soft doors only being offered. Keep in mind everything is going to be interchangeable so you can buy a set of hard, locking doors and add them later. The truck will be very minimal however their are about $15,000 worth of factory options including CTIS, 2 piece beadlock wheels, and a few other things that have slipped my mind, that can be added, in addition the the huge after market options that are already available.
What were looking at is a base price for the kit starting at $59,995. The great thing about this is you can choose your power plant at whatever cost you choose. So through in a traditional 6.5 turbo diesel or add a Duramax and Allison transmission. Did I mention it will also be coming standard with a 2 inch body lift from the factory?! The only thing that they know won't fit is a Powerstroke.
As soon as they get 50 orders with a 10% deposit on the total cost of your truck, the program is a go. If they get 50 orders in tomorrow, you should have a truck by the beginning of the year I'm told. Website is in production and should be live next month. They're also working on the first vehicle which we later found out we were standing 20 feet from when we had lunch because the prototype was on the other side of a curtain in the garage. Once that is ready, September from what I've heard, they will start touring with the truck and generating more buzz. In addition to that, if this launches, they've maintained all their contacts and would be looking to relaunching the racing program. It's been a long day, and I'm sure Ive forgotten something, but ask any questions and I'll try to answer them as best as possible, we got a pretty thorough presentation on this today.
Now, for the BIG news! It's no shock that one of the most frequent questions AM General receives is why was the H1 production stopped and when will it continue. I am pleased and proud to report that The Canadian Hummer Club were the first civilians to hear the official word. First of all the official real reason why the H1 was cancelled boiled down to money and tougher regulations from EPA and DOT, etc. From what we were presented today, GM wanted to add another gear to the transmission to increase drivability. To do this, they needed to go through and recertify everything. New crash tests, the whole lot, in total they were expected to spend 10 million dollars just for an extra gear. Very hard to swallow, especially when you're only selling 1,000 units a year. Now, with that out of the way, I answer the second major question.
Pending 50 orders, and 10% deposits received. AM General has confirmed today that they will be producing the Humvee C Series, a 100% authentic, produced by AM General, kit car. The only way were ever going to get new H1's is for them to offer a 95% complete vehicle minus engine, transmission, and t case, along with a few trim items which I'll explain later. This gets around the EPA and other agencies testing policies.
GM still owns the Hummer name and any commercially unique trait of the H1. Therefor, nothing on this vehicle can still be there if it was exclusively available on the civilian H1. Meaning, the 7 slot grill, stays and overall look and feel of the truck. What goes is leather interior, car radio, power windows, power locks, door mounted mirrors, heated windshield, hard doors, and as funny as it sounds, glossy paint, along with a few other little details like a speedometer. So, essentially what you are getting is a "legal" HMMWV. The C Series comes in a four man soft top configuration with soft doors only being offered. Keep in mind everything is going to be interchangeable so you can buy a set of hard, locking doors and add them later. The truck will be very minimal however their are about $15,000 worth of factory options including CTIS, 2 piece beadlock wheels, and a few other things that have slipped my mind, that can be added, in addition the the huge after market options that are already available.
What were looking at is a base price for the kit starting at $59,995. The great thing about this is you can choose your power plant at whatever cost you choose. So through in a traditional 6.5 turbo diesel or add a Duramax and Allison transmission. Did I mention it will also be coming standard with a 2 inch body lift from the factory?! The only thing that they know won't fit is a Powerstroke.
As soon as they get 50 orders with a 10% deposit on the total cost of your truck, the program is a go. If they get 50 orders in tomorrow, you should have a truck by the beginning of the year I'm told. Website is in production and should be live next month. They're also working on the first vehicle which we later found out we were standing 20 feet from when we had lunch because the prototype was on the other side of a curtain in the garage. Once that is ready, September from what I've heard, they will start touring with the truck and generating more buzz. In addition to that, if this launches, they've maintained all their contacts and would be looking to relaunching the racing program. It's been a long day, and I'm sure Ive forgotten something, but ask any questions and I'll try to answer them as best as possible, we got a pretty thorough presentation on this today.
. I suspect if it is a kit car then they can bypass a lot of the safety regulations required of production vehicles.
