AM General Stops HUMMER H2 Production

AM General has announced the temporary stoppage of Hummer H2 production. Shutting down the H2 line also means the company will lay off 250 workers for the time being.

Craig Mac Nab, a spokesman for the company, told hummerguy.net that production will be halted at the Mishawaka, Indiana, facility at least until March. “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,” he said.

“That will start to happen at the beginning of March. Some of the older employees have already been moved.”

The Hummer brand is based on the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, more commonly known as the "Humvee." AM General began testing their model in 1979, with a formal introduction in 1985. By 1992, the company was selling a civilian version. General Motors purchased Hummer rights from AM General six years later, but AM General still produces the vehicles.

Moving workers off the civilian H2 line and into the Humvee military vehicle production division indicates there may be a long wait before H2 production will begin again, if ever. Mac Nab acknowledged this by saying, “Nobody knows what’s going to happen with the H2 plant.”

GM wanted the H2 plant closed for a period of 20 weeks, according to South Bend, Ind., television station WSBT. The closure is a part of GM's plan to cut 2,000 jobs at nine manufacturing facilities in the U.S.