HUMMER H2 Production in Limbo Until at Least March

One of the world's most hated SUVs, the HUMMER H2, will suffer from a production hiatus until March, at least, according to a spokesperson from AM General quoted by hummerguy.net. The production halt of the H2 line in the AM General plant in Mishawaka, Indiana will also temporarily lay off at least 200 workers from its civilian line.

“What we are doing at considerable difficulty and expense to the company is moving all eligible employees from the H2 workforce into other parts of the company - finding them jobs,” said Mac Craig Mac Nab, AM General spokesperson. “That will start to happen at the beginning of March. Some of the older employees have already been moved.” he added.

Since AM General has been doing the switch of workers from its civilian production lines to its military operations, this might become an option worth while for the temporarily laid off workers. The AM General job losses might be attributed to GM's recent announcement to cut at least 2000 jobs and put nine manufacturing plants across the country in “slow mode”.

Neither HUMMER nor AM General would say when or if the H2 manufacturing process will be revived, with Mac Nab adding, “Nobody knows what’s going to happen with the H2 plant.”

All this doesn't quite come as an unexpected announcement taking into account that the HUMMER brand, and the H2 model in particular, has been in deep dookie for some time now. One of the few 'merican vehicles to be exempted from giving their mpg ratings to the EPA because of its sheer weight, the H2 sales have dropped in recent years from 54,052 vehicles sold in 2006 to just 6,095 in 2008.

This kind of goes to show that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Considering that General Motors is also actively hunting for a buyer for the HUMMER brand, the H2's production halt might last a bit more than the current March deadline.