HT had a good article in the Sunday paper this weekend! Check it out here:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/loca...st/7164410.htm
Posted on Sun, Nov. 02, 2003
Hummer H2 is capturing some hearts
Love 'em or hate 'em, Hummers are selling like crazy
By Dave Ferman
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
GRAPEVINE - Over and over again, Travis Patterson uses a phrase, the Hummer lifestyle, to describe what it's like to own one.
Asked to explain, the 36-year-old Arlington businessman smiles and launches right in.
"It's a lifestyle of getting out, doing things, and as a society we've gotten away from this. A Hummer is almost a ticket to do that. When you purchase a Hummer, you have more ability to express yourself. It gives you a big voice," he said while guiding his $53,000 Hummer H2 along Texas 121, seemingly gliding above the traffic and the tops of passing sport utility vehicles.
The voice is one that many people are using these days. Introduced in July 2002, the Hummer H2 has become, according to manufacturer General Motors Corp., the best-selling large luxury sport utility vehicle of the year, racking up North American sales of 44,154 in less than 18 months. Classic Hummer in Grapevine, which opened in 2002, sold 600 from August 2002 to August of this year, and current sales are wonderful, general manager Rick Lawlis said.
But like no other vehicle in recent memory, the Hummer polarizes opinions. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Friends of the Earth hate the vehicle, calling it a gas-guzzling, air-fouling beast that oozes testosterone -- a midlife crisis on wheels that, with its poor gas mileage, is keeping the United States more dependent on foreign oil.
Hummer owners know -- and can recite -- these criticisms, and have plenty of answers.
Midlife crisis? Well, what 20-year-old college kid can afford one? Gas guzzler? There's plenty of SUVs you can say that about. Macho jerks? Tell that to a single mom who has to fight freeway traffic every day, or to a dad whose son -- and his son's friends -- suddenly think he's cool because they get to ride in one.
The little brother of the military Humvee, the Hummer H2 costs about $49,000, but options and luxuries can push the price into six figures. Payments are often $700 per month and up, and installing a five-figure audio/visual system is not uncommon.
Other area dealerships include Frank Kent Hummer in Fort Worth and Sewell Hummer in Dallas.
Owners love their ability to go places other vehicles can't -- off-roading is very popular among H2 owners -- and, in many cases, the wow factor of driving what's been called an SUV on steroids.
Among the many famous Hummer owners are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Shaquille O'Neal. Buying a Hummer makes you part of a still fairly exclusive club, one that says you have money and can use it however you want.
For women, who make up 25 percent of owners, having a Hummer means having the sense that "I truly feel safe," said Jennifer Marlow, a 34-year-old Colleyville mortgage auditor who's had hers a month.
"I just love it," she said. "It rides great. It's just an incredible vehicle, and it'd be hard for me to get in an accident and get hurt. And my son loves it. It's exciting for him."
No matter how fun to drive, though, there are serious air-quality issues to consider, Sierra Club spokesman Brendan Bell said. A Hummer, he said, releases three or four times the global-warming pollution of the average car. Over its lifetime, he said, a Hummer can belch 150 tons of such pollution into the air, 50 tons more than the Jeep Cherokee.
But then there's what Friends of the Earth spokesman David Hirsch calls "the unspoken stuff" -- the sheer machismo of the vehicle and the attitude that can go with it.
"It looks aggressive," Hirsch said.
"And sometimes it's easier to close your eyes and mind and click back to that 'Me first' attitude, to not think about the wider implications of what you're buying."
This summer, the Sierra Club started a satirical Web site,
www.hummerdinger.com, that mocks Hummer owners. One section has a test to determine whether you're a "Hummer hunk." A pie chart showed that "intimidating fellow man" was the most popular use for the vehicle, with "becoming Exxon's customer of the month" coming in a distant second.
Owners argue that the Hummer is an easy target because, well, it's a Hummer -- it's popular, it's famous and it looks unique.
"People are afraid of something they don't understand, and the haters haven't experienced one," said Chris Whipple, a 50-year-old IBM salesman and self-described "indoor kinda guy" who bought his Hummer for "comfort and adventure."
His Hummer, he notes, was only about $5,000 more than a Chevy Tahoe and less than a Lexus -- and, because only about "30,000 or 40,000" are made, it's "individualistic."
And downright patriotic, too.
"They've hit a chord in the American public -- a lot of people want to maximize their pleasure, and it's a play-hard vehicle," he said. "And there's no more patriotic vehicle. I can't tell you how many veterans have shook my hand and said, 'Thanks for buying American.' "
Patterson, who was in the Air Force from 1985 to 1991, agrees.
"Some people see it as self-indulgent," he said, "but it says that we [Americans] work hard and we play hard and we like nice homes and nice vehicles. It makes you feel good to drive it."
He said the H2 is also promoting the outdoors. Patterson and Sam Wallis own Adventure Team, a Grapevine business that takes people on outings that can last as little as an afternoon and as much as a week, and can include anything from hiking to canoeing to camping.
The two recently started Hummer Team, a business that focuses on Hummer owners; dozens of them, he said, go together -- often with families -- for getaways. Members of both teams pay fees for memberships and various activities.
The result, Patterson said, is that people appreciate family and the outdoors more than they would have. There's a sense of camaraderie, of getting back to the basics too often lost in a world where so many people work behind computers and come home to find their kids playing video games.
"The Hummer gives people the push and the confidence to get out," he said. "These things stand up to anything you want to do. Our members' kids don't play Nintendo -- they play in the woods and the trees."
Patterson guides the H2 through midday traffic. And again, the Hummer's polarizing effect is in effect: Some other drivers stare with undisguised admiration, while others glance away with a look of irritation. But they all notice.
"The Hummer just screams 'America' to me," he said happily. "It looks exciting. It looks like someone's having fun."
The Hummer H2 at a glance
• Price: Base, $49,180; average transaction price, $53,000
• Made in: Mishawaka, Ind., near South Bend
• Factory capacity: 40,000 per year
• Gallons in tank: 30
• Miles per gallon: 11-13
• Weight: 6,400 pounds
• 2002 sales: 19,222 in U.S. and Canada
• 2003 sales: 24,932
• Most sold in: California -- nearly 20 percent of all sales -- and New York
• U.S. dealerships: 163
• Texas dealerships: 13
• Fort Worth-Dallas dealerships: 4
• Average owner age: 43
• Male/female buyers: 75 percent/25 percent
• Owner income: Average is $200,000 and up
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SOURCE: General Motors
www.adventureteam.com www.hummerteam.com
Dave Ferman, (817) 685-3957
dferman@star-telegram.com
Travis
http://www.HummerTeam.com