Merrill Cook
How do you run a brand so synonymous with rugged American individualism–and our love for larger stuff–as Hummer into the ground? You ignore changes in the America your brand represents. Though there’s no denying that Hummers can take you into the wilderness, over obstacles, and hold a lot of stuff while doing all of this, Hummer has come to be thought of as simply a gas guzzler of a car in recent years. As consumers doubt shifted from economic concerns about the price of gas to environmental concerns about how wasteful a vehicle like the Hummer is, sales plummeted. No one wants a status symbol that makes you look bad. But perhaps it was just a gimmick all along. First created for the military in 1991, Hummer’s lifespan is a good bit shorter than any other brand on our list. After a failed sale of the brand to Chinese auto maker Tengzhong in 2010, parent brand GM decided to close the operation down. As of February 2010 Hummer dealerships had about 2,500 vehicles in their inventories and has sold just 265 units nationwide the month before.
