Car Moon

These ain't the best of times for a brand like Hummer but the General is doing its best to keep as many people interested as possible. For next month's Las Vegas SEMA show Hummer has prepared a threesome of H3 concepts outfitted with a raft of performance and appearance accessories. While none of these H3s is targeted for production, Hummer says that they incorporate original and aftermarket components that are available on the market today. -Continued

No, people haven't lost their mind with the widespread economic turmoil -well, not yet at least- as this Hummer H3 that's fitted with a set of wooden wagon wheels is actually a piece of art created by Matthew Harrison and it's on show at the fifth Zoo Art Fair (17-20 October) in central London. Harrison said that he combined the Hummer's off-road credentials with 'Wild West' wooden wheels to create 'a sculpture that is a mixture of art, engineering and motoring'. Well, in our opinion he should have added a few horses to complete the theme but then again, we're more humorists than artists. -Continued

With Hummer’s future uncertain as truck and large SUV sales continue to freefall in the States, you’d think that GM would totally give up on its offroad brand. But for the time being, that doesn’t seem to be the case. As part of its commitment to make half of its vehicles E85 (ethanol) capable by 2012, GM said that along with the H2 E85 FlexPower that will go on sale in the States this October, it is continuing the development of FlexPower engines for the H3 SUV.

Scheduled to hit U.S. dealerships in early 2009, the H3 FlexPower will be able to run on gasoline, E85 ethanol which consists of up to 85 percent ethanol mixed with gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels. According to the American automaker, in the USA alone, more than 3 million of the 7 million flexible-fuel vehicles on the road are GM cars and trucks. -Continued

For those of you who are looking to sharpen their off-road driving abilities and to take a break from the daily routine life, GM is launching its first ever Hummer Driving Academy event that will take place in Morocco from 7-12 November 2008. The academy will take a fleet of 14 Hummer H3s on a 1300km (about 800 miles) route which includes the Sahara Desert. Overall, there will be 14 teams consisting of a driver and co-driver. The participating SUVs will carry necessary survival equipment, desert tires and GPS satellite navigation systems, but other than that, they’re standard H3s with 3.7-liter 5-cylinder engines and automatic transmissions. -Continued

The cost of participation in the 2008 HUMMER Driving Academy event has been set at €3.995 or $5,870 per team of two (driver and co-driver), and it includes the use of the H3 vehicles and luxury hotel accommodation but not air fares. According to GM, the Hummer Driving Academy event in Morocco will be followed by a series of events which will be rolled out in 2009. For more information on the event in Morocco you can visit the official site here.

With pick up trucks and large SUVs pilling up at dealerships, it’s not exactly the best of times for a vehicle like the all-new Hummer H3T. Set to arrive at dealerships in September, Hummer has priced the H3T at $31,495, including a $745 destination charge. Featuring a five-passenger crew cab and a separate five-foot-long (1.5 meters) bed the H3T packs a 5-cylinder 3.7 liter engine combined with standard full-time electronic four-wheel drive.

For those in Europe that can withstand the sizzling prices at gas pumps, Hummer is offering a special edition version of its H3 SUV equipped with €4,000 or $6,300 worth of options at no extra cost. Based on the standard H3 3.7 automatic, the Sensation features a unique body-colored grille, a power sliding glass sunroof, black tubular side steps, black roof crossbars, an in-dash 6-CD changer and a Monsoon 7-speaker sound system. The H3 Sensation, which will only be available for short time, is offered exclusively in black or white paint. -One more pic after the jump