Launch of first official Hummer dealer overshadowed by tax hikes in Budget
Could Hummer have picked a worse week to launch its first UK dealer? The press release landed on our desks the same morning as the headlines were filled with news about this week’s Budget and stringent new taxes to clobber the heaviest polluters. Errr, that’ll be cars like the Hummer, then.
I wish Bauer Millet in Manchester the best of luck, but I can’t help wondering who will walk in and buy its wares (apart from the occasional Man Utd footballer with more cash than common sense). Chancellor Gordon Brown will this week raise the UK’s VED annual tax disc to £400 and beyond for cars in the highest polluting category, and there’s already a growing stigma attached to driving big 4x4s. They don’t come any bigger than the Hummer, even the new ‘smaller’ 3.7-litre H3 model.
Has there ever been a more misguided launch? Hummer’s official arrival in Europe is surely the result of a strategic decision taken years ago in the US, before the cold winds of the eco-lobby entered the mainstream political arena. Environmental issues are changing far faster than the arcane product planning mechanisms of traditional car companies, and if GM were to reassess the situation today, I bet they wouldn’t launch such a dinosaur in Europe today.