# Who Designed/Built the Hummer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318 "2004-01-02T17:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318/1 "2004-01-02T17:18:59Z")
Weren’t Hummers of German origin? Or, perhaps the design concept was stolen from new German jeeps? A friend of mine says they were built by AMC to replace the Jeep. (AMC couldn’t build spit if their corporate necks depended on it.) Is this true? Hummers for the US military were AMC? And US military Jeeps were AMC? Or, did someone build it for AMC under that name? And now, the street legal Hummers are GM? (Either way, I sure hope Uncle Sam got the extended warranty!) - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318/2 "2004-01-02T17:58:59Z")
Jeep was bought from the rapidly-becoming-defunct Kaiser corporation by AMC around 1970. AMC eventually went under and was acquired by Chrysler in the mid-80’s. Chrysler owns the Jeep marque today. The original Hummer was built by the AM General division of LTV Aerospace, which later became AM General Corporation (still an LTV subsidiary). AM General WAS originally owned by AMC, and sold to LTV in 1983: [http://www.lynchhummer.com/AMGHistory.html](http://www.lynchhummer.com/AMGHistory.html) AM General is currently owned by the Renco Group - LTV sold them in 1992. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318/3 "2004-01-02T18:01:38Z")
That’s Renco and not Ronco??? 😃 Just kidding…thanks for the details! I needed that, doc! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318/4 "2004-01-02T18:18:08Z")
To be complete, I should have said that DaimlerChrysler owns the Jeep marque today, since Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merged in the late 90’s. One hummer-like vehicle of German origin would be the Unimog, BTW. This monster has been built by Mercedes for years, long before the HumVee: [http://www.tx4x4.com/unimog.html](http://www.tx4x4.com/unimog.html) Who’s to say whether AM General took design cues from them? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318/5 "2004-01-02T20:49:46Z")
And, just to confuse things, The H2 is built by AM General (not part of General Motors) and is based on a GM vehicle, namely the Chevy Tahoe. Yes, the wheels are bigger and they added a winch, but it’s still a Tahoe at the core. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-designed-built-the-hummer/222318/6 "2004-01-03T04:55:54Z")
This article makes it sound like the H3 (Well, the H3T pickup, that is) is to be solely built by GMC, using “a modified of GM platform that most famously holds up the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, and which includes the coil-over front and rear suspensions” [Winnipeg Free Press H3T article](http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/autos/reviews/gm/story/1575857p-1850898c.html) I will accept the blame if this is not true, but I could not find anything to the contrary As an aside, apparently only 720 Full size Hummers (H1s) were sold in 2002, as opposed to 19,000 H2s