The history of how an army vehicle turned into a luxury car.

Hummer was originally developed in 1979 in response to the Army’s need for the development of a high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle. In the race to create such a vehicle was Teledyne, Chrysler Defence and AM General; it is AM General who succeeded the competition and created what is now known as the Hummer.

Eleven months after it’s initial design AM General’s Hummer design was being tested in the Nevada desert. The Hummers design had to fit a stringent set of requirements for the army, it had to have light armour, deep water fording capability, and Arctic and desert operational ability to name just a few. In January 1985 Hummer produced it first fully equipped and ready for action vehicle. The Hummer became famed for its role during the American Army’s Operation Desert Storm Operation in the Gulf War; and has continued to be used during combat ever since.

It was in 1992 that AM General began producing the Hummer for civilian use, rumour has it that this was in response from Arnold Schwarzenegger who saw a platoon of the vehicles during the filming of Kindergarten Cop. H1, the first civilian model, retained many of the original features of the Hummer minus the combat machinery, this lead to the vehicles great popularity amongst those seeking the ultimate in toughness and mobility.

In 1999 Hummer sales slowed significantly and AM General went into partnership with GM Motors to jointly pursue product, marketing and distribution opportunities for Hummer; in doing so GM secured the exclusive ownership of the Hummer brand meaning securing the company with the rights to use the Hummer brand on any future vehicles, although AM General still reserve the right to build the H1. General Motors wasted no time and set about developing the H2 model based on GM’s Tahoe vehicle.

Now 20 years old, the Hummer is still humming along and is now available in a variety of models. What’s even more incredible is the Stretch Hummer Limo that are now being custom produced and kitted out in the ultimate accessories; such as LCD TV’s, bars and mini dance floors.