Hummer

General Motors (GM) may be looking to its past to find a solution for the future. Ironically, its brand most maligned for being eco-unfriendly may become its new electric-only brand. Reuters reports General Motors is developing a range of premium electric pickup trucks and SUVs, some of which may wear the defunct Hummer name.

US automotive start-up Elio Motors will build its quirky, fuel-efficient, three-wheel car from 2014 in a plant that was once home to the hulking Hummer H3 SUV. RACER (Revitalising Auto Communities Environmental Response) – the trust responsible for selling and ‘greening up’ old General Motors properties – agreed to sell the 167,000-square-metre Shreveport, Louisiana plant to Elio, which is set to begin production of its $US6800 ($6500) two-seater in about 18 months’ time.

It's official: General Motors has today announced it will shutter its Hummer brand following the collapse of sales talks with China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery. GM's Director of Network Support, Jim Bunnell made the announcement to the brand's 153 US dealers today, saying that although GM is still open to other offers for its premium off-road division, it has yet to receive any viable bids.

They say a picture tells a thousand words. Here are just three powerful pictorial examples of the credit crunch closing in, in the United States. San Rafael Chevrolet Saab Hummer Hyundai closed its doors recently, leaving dozens of employees out of work. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In Newark, California, a sign informs readers that the Fremont Pontiac GMC dealership will never re-open. Photo: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

Amid the turmoil of GM's American financial status, a brief glimmer of good news has come from part of the ongoing business and strategic review of the Hummer brand. General Motors, in revising its Hummer leadership structure, has effective immediately appointed James E. Taylor to the new position of chief executive officer for the brand.