Friday, April 17, 2009

The Importance of Hummer

There's a blog title I never thought I'd write. For years I despised Hummers as much as many other Americans did--they seemed to be bumbling trolls clogging highways, earning 9 MPG, and few of them were owned by people who were located in an area that might necessitate a vehicle such as a Hummer.

BUT with GM's bankruptcy imminent and several brands, including Hummer, slated for sale or dissolution, I have to plead for Hummer to be saved. The situation is much more complicated than just saying, 'do away with that abomination!' There is also a lot more to any eradication of Hummer than there is to the selling of Saturn to Toyota (which I think SHOULD buy Saturn from GM): Hummer is the number 1 military vehicle, is the number 1 military training vehicle, and, with some redesigns and augmented engines, it could really be a viable automobile for elevated and icy locations, as the Hummer is amazing in the snow, at high elevations and on ice--more so than most trucks. Granted fuel efficiency, weight/size, and cost are the biggest issues that must be dealt with first.

But if, as is being reported, a Chinese company decides to purchase Hummer from GM, it would mean a huge contract for a Chinese manufacturer from the US. China would in essence be in control of a minor portion of our military (so-to-speak...), which is not anything negative in my view, as we control a large portion of their economy. So I suppose in these times everything needs to come full circle and both nations need to acknowledge that our economies are more intertwined than they were 50 years ago and that if one is not strong, the world could fail in a domino effect (as we're seeing right now).

Here's hoping Hummer sticks around to help with international relations and to keep supporting our troops; and here's hoping someone comes up with a bio-diesel engine for a hummer, or figures out how to make it get 50MPG running on vegetable oil or something 'ridiculously awesome' as that.

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