HUMMER H2 Assembly Plant to Produce Taxi Cabs

AM General’s plant in which they produce the HUMMER H2 for General Motors may soon be pumping out yet another iconic vehicle. VPG Autos is ironing out the last few details with AM General to produce a brand new vehicle called the Standard Taxi. According to AM General spokesperson Craig Mac Nab, the agreement is contingent upon VPG Autos securing proper financing. If the deal goes through, production is scheduled to begin next year.

“Our groundbreaking agreement with AM General will benefit owners, operators, drivers, and the riding public. We looked at several manufacturing possibilities over the past year and we chose AM General because of its excellence in building vehicles and its vast experience in procuring parts and vehicle components, engineering and validation processes, service parts logistics, maintenance planning, warranty service and administration, and launch of production vehicles.” – VPG Autos

When speaking with reporters, Mac Nab said it was too early to tell if this would mean additional jobs at the HUMMER H2 plant. He also dismissed concerns that the military HUMVEE may be replaced. “Humvee production is ongoing, and it should be for a long time.” However he did not discuss GM’s strategic review of the HUMMER brand, other than to say nothing has been announced.

Production of 2009 H2s is scheduled to begin this week with no plans of extended shut downs. This is somewhat surprising since what will soon be GM’s only plant producing full-size SUVs (The Escalade, Tahoe, and Yukon factory in Texas) is shutting down for a total of 8 weeks between now and the end of the year due to decreased demand according to a factory spokesperson.

AM General has to be concerned with the outcome of HUMMER’s strategic review, which would explain their continued effort to find alternate uses for its plant specifically designed to make H2s.