Hummer Pics, Stats, & History

AM General was originally the heavy industries division of American Motors (AMC). General produced trucks, buses and jeeps for military, industrial and governemnt use. Late into the 1970's they produced the "High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle" also known as the HMMWV. They proceeded to create civilian models and they were branded as the Hummer. In 1982 AMC wanted to sell it's leadership to Renault, but the French governent owned part of Renault and a governmental conflict regarding the AM General division resulted. U.S. Governmental regulations forbade the ownership of defense contractors by foreign governments so AM General branched outward and became an independant company.

AM General remains an independant company, government and military contractor. However, they sold the right to the HUMMER name in 1999 to General Motors, and continues to produce various models of the HUMMER for GM. GM was actually sued in 2003 for it's resemblance of the Jeep. DaimlerChrysler had owned the Jeep brand at the time and accordingly were the collectors of the lawsuit.

It was announced on August 20, 2004 that Ron Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings company would make a business partnership with AM General's current owner(Renco Group). It reportedly cost nearly one billion dollars and Perelman now holds 70% ownship of the company.