RIP Hummer: Symbol of Eco-Defiance Is a Goner

General Motors announced yesterday that it was considering selling the Hummer brand, which begs the question: To whom? Who exactly wants the most reviled division in automotive history, asks Frank Aherns of the Washington Post. With gas at $4 a gallon and counting, no one’s really interested in SUVs that “get 15 miles per gallon downhill with a tail wind.”

Yes, Hummers have their good points. Some ferried Red Cross supplies during hurricane Katrina, driving through 2-feet-deep water, which admittedly rocks. But most Hummers are spotless suburban symbols of environmental defiance, sporting gas tanks that now cost $128 to fill. This year, GM has sold a mere 3,000. No one’s buying this brand; consider the Hummer extinct. (More Hummer stories.)