GM to drop Hummer?...don't tease me

I post this because it's relevant--nothing is more American, it seems, than the consumeristic obsession with buying insanely large, insensible vehicles for your Starbucks runs. But with a boyfriend working with the Detroit automaker, I have a soft spot for the company. GM is receiving a lot of flak on sites such as MarketWatch for not making this decision sooner, but at least it's a step in the right direction. My only concern is for the thousands of blue-collar factory workers, and their families, who will be suffering due to the layoffs. Yet again, I see the economy of my home state spiraling even further down the tube. The greatest news though? Selling the Hummer brand. Anything to get those atrocious monster trucks off the road, I am behind 100 percent. I mean, seriously. Have you ever had one of those monstrosities bear down on you on the highway? *shudder*

G.M. Closing 4 Plants in Shift From Trucks Toward Cars
The New York Times

Responding to a consumer shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors said Tuesday that it would stop making pickup trucks and big S.U.V.s at four North American assembly plants and would consider selling its Hummer brand.

The moves, announced Tuesday by the company chairman G. Richard Wagoner Jr., will slash 500,000 units from the automaker’s overall production, and pave the way for increased investment in smaller cars and passenger vehicles.

Mr. Wagoner said that rising gasoline prices had forced a “structural shift” by American consumers away from truck-based vehicles built by G.M.

“These prices are changing consumer behavior and changing it rapidly,” Mr. Wagoner said at a briefing before G.M.’s annual meeting in Wilmington, Del. “We don’t believe it’s a spike or a temporary shift. We believe it is, by and large, permanent.”

In what he called “difficult” decisions, Mr. Wagoner said that G.M. would close plants in Janesville, Wisc.; Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico by or before 2010. (read more)