|
|
|
| Designed by AM General back in 1979, the now-called Hummer was built strictly as a military vehicle,
but has grown in popularity among the general population in recent years. These are considered to be the best off-road vehicles in the world.
If you like comfort and style, choose the Hummer to cruise through the desert. The history of the Hummer began in the ranks of the U.S. military 20 years ago. As the logistics of modern warfare changed, so did the military's needs for mobility and flexibility. The militarized civilian trucks in use no longer satisfied the rigorous demands of the U.S. Armed Forces. They required a new breed of vehicle. In 1979, the U.S. Army drafted a document outlining its requirements for a High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle, or HMMWV. It needed to be agile. It needed to be be able to go places that defied the imagination. And it needed to last a minimum of 12 years under the most unforgiving conditions. In July of that year, AM General Corporation began preliminary design work. An impossibly short 11 months later, the first prototype, the M998, was already in testing. In June 1981, the Army awarded AM General a Phase 1 request contract for development of several more prototype vehicles to be delivered to the U.S. government for another series of even more exhaustive and grueling tests. These AM General prototypes proved to be the muscular new breed of vehicle the Army had been looking for. As a result, the company was awarded the initial production contract for 55,000 HMMWVs for delivery in 1985. In March of 1983 they were sold and delivered to the LTV Aerospace and Defense Company as the AM General Division. In 1986 AM General's name was changed to LTV Missiles and Electronics Group, AM General Division and the corporate offices were moved to the South Bend IN manufacturing facility while Engineering remained in Livonia. In 1989 AM General was awarded an additional production contract for 33,331 military vehicles. By 1990 initial design work for civilian Hummer had begun, the name of the company was again altered during LTV reorganization to LTV Aerospace and Defense Company, AMGeneral Corporation and corporated offices moved to downtown South Bend IN. In March of 1992 the 100,000th military Hummer was produced and in April the company was sold to the Renco Group, Inc. In the years since, the AM General HMMWV has proven to be a valuable asset in the military's arsenal. Given the name "Humvee" by soldiers, this unstoppable vehicle has played a critical role in military actions around the globe. All told, more than 150,000 HMMWVs have been produced for the U.S. Armed Forces and friendly overseas armies. It was only a matter of time before the Humvee's extraordinary powers were called upon by the nonmilitary sector. AM General's 1991 decision to sell to the public finally allowed nonmilitary personnel to experience the exceptional off-road performance and problem-solving abilities of a military-based utility vehicle. The first civiliam Hummer was delivered in July 1992. Save for a few comfortable and practical refinements, the Hummer is virtually unchanged from its much-storied military counterpart. All of the power, durability and versatility of the military Humvee is available to you in the Hummer, the world's ultimate off-road vehicle. |
