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Is Hummer Out Of Gas?

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By BAIRD HELGESON

bhelgeson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 31, 2009

TAMPA - Darren Vivolo has a 2007 yellow Hummer H2 ready for its new owner.

The hulking 6-foot-8 urban assault vehicle features custom wheels, a step rail that activates when a door opens and a third row of seats for the kids.

All that for $38,000, about $17,000 less than new.

Vehicles like this may become rare in Tampa as General Motors Corp. ponders whether to fold the iconic brand. GM had been expected to make its decision today about Hummer's fate, but the Obama administration gave the automaker 60 more days to finalize its restructuring plan.

If GM doesn't find a buyer for the slow-selling, fuel-gulping trucks, Hummer could go the way of the Edsel.

That would devastate local Hummer lovers. The boxy behemoths that started as spiffed-up military vehicles quickly became a favorite in Tampa.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who took delivery of the first civilian Hummer in the early 1990s before he was elected, even came to Tampa for opening festivities at Reeves Hummer on North Florida Avenue.

Still, local Hummers seldom see duty more demanding than tailgating at Raymond James Stadium or navigating the bite-size lot at Ciccio & Tony's restaurant in Hyde Park.

For a town not always bashful about consumption, the Hummer seemed the perfect mobile accessory, 10 miles per gallon aside. The Hummer's role on "CSI: Miami" didn't hurt the brand's appeal in Florida.

Vivolo, who owns Bayshore Automotive, said buyers are snapping up used ones out of fear the brand will vanish.

These days, Vivolo can buy a newer Hummer at auction and resell it within 10 days - not bad for a full-size fuel-chugger in today's economy. White and black examples can fetch $2,000 more than other colors. He ships them all over Florida, the United States and Europe.
Vivolo had three Hummers at his warehouse Monday, cartoonish in their chromed enormity compared with his collection of sleek Aston Martins, Jaguars and Maseratis.

Ostentatious or not, Hummers are bargain luxury sport utility vehicles compared with similar up-market rivals from Range Rover, Porsche and Mercedes, Vivolo said.

"People love Hummers," said Vivolo, 39. "They are very desirable."

Even the most outlandish examples have their appeal.

From pitcher Curt Schilling of Boston Red Sox fame, Vivolo bought an iridescent purple Hummer with a video game system and a window-shaking stereo.

He sold it to a man about 5 feet tall "who almost needed a step ladder to get into it."

Karyn Greene bought Hummer's smallest model, the H3, two years ago.

"I love it a lot," said Greene, a fitness instructor and stay-at-home mom from Westchase.

She doesn't know her exact gas mileage, but it's not too bad, she said. She particularly likes the way it looks and its sure-footedness in the rain.

"I'll pass it along to my kids," said Greene, 35.

Perhaps no brand in recent history enjoyed such a meteoric rise and perilous freefall.

After its introduction, new Hummer models became tough-looking spinoffs of GM's more humdrum passenger trucks, like the popular Suburban. Their scary-big appeal attracted professional athletes, rappers and housewives.

However, the love affair proved fickle as gas topped $4 a gallon. Annual sales for all Hummer models peaked in 2006 at 71,524. Midway through 2008, sales were down 50 percent for the year.

Despite Vivolo's experience, prices tanked nationally as fears intensified that the latest Hummers would have no resale value if GM dumped the brand.

The average price of a 3-year-old Hummer dropped 12 percent in February, the steepest decline of any GM product, according to Automotive Lease Guide.

At the same time, these once-proud symbols of American excess came to embody the public's anger toward unnecessary consumption.

Hummer became a shining example of the wrongheadedness of American auto manufacturers. GM focused on lucrative Hummers and trucks while the nation sought fuel-sipping hybrids.

One Web site features thousands of photos submitted by people making obscene gestures toward Hummers.

For his part, Schwarzenegger converted one of his four Hummers to run on alternative fuels.

The Hummer hasn't found many fans in the mainstream media, either.

Here's how Consumer Reports describes the H2: "The Hummer gets awful fuel economy, handling is ungainly, the brakes are subpar, and a terrible view out makes it difficult to judge the hulking vehicle's position within a traffic lane."

Yet Hummer's contrary nature is part of the appeal.

"It's a man's man's SUV," said Eddie Lawrence, wholesaling director with Coral Hummer and Cadillac in Pompano Beach. "None of us guys ever want to admit we have 10 kids in the back of a Suburban. The Hummer says this is a rugged guy who wants to have fun in his SUV."

That's why Lawrence and many Hummer fans don't think the brand will die.

Said Lawrence: "Hummer symbolizes money."

Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668.

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