2003 Hummer H2 on 2040-cars

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Texas sues GM, saying it tricked customers into sharing driving data sold to insurers

Texas filed a lawsuit Tuesday against GM over years of alleged abuse of customers' data and trust. New car owners were presented with a "confusing and highly misleading" process that was implied to be for their safety, but "was no more than a deceptively designed sales flow" that surrendered their data for GM to sell. The suit contends that at no point was selling driving data ever even suggested as a possibility, putting GM in violation of the state's consumer protection laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking a jury trial and at least $10,000 per offense (every GM car sold in the state since 2015) and a hefty add-on of $250,000 in cases where the victim was over 65. Texas seems to be flying high after a recent $1.4 billion settlement from Meta over other privacy concerns. This may well be a way to solve any pending budgetary issues in the Lone Star State.

Humvee maker AM General reportedly for sale, with interest from FCA, GM

WASHINGTON — AM General has put itself up for sale and has hired investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd to seek potential bidders in a deal that could value the builder of Humvee military vehicles at more than $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said this week. Potential bidders include competitors in the military ground vehicle market, such as General Dynamics, Oshkosh Corp and BAE Systems, according to two people familiar with the matter. Automakers like Fiat Chrysler and General Motors may also be potential buyers. GM licensed Hummer from AM General in 1998 to build civilian SUVs. None of the companies would comment or reply to a request for comment. The South Bend, Indiana-based AM General is currently owned by private equity firms. A possible sale of AM General follows a rash of deals over the past 18 months among defense contractors. But relatively fewer makers of defense equipment have gone on the auction block. Last year, United Technologies acquired Rockwell Collins for $30 billion, and in March, TransDigm Group continued its acquisition spree with a $525 million deal for Extant Components Group. AM General could fetch about 10 times its annual earnings of $160 million, one of the people said. The company's favorable tax treatment because of its current status as an limited liability corporation, would allow a buyer to reduce the company's taxable earnings for 15 years. That coupled with recent contract awards could push the ultimate value of the company to over $2 billion in a sale. The sale, should it happen, comes as the U.S. Army is gearing up for a broad effort to modernize its forces, including seeking prototypes of its Next-Generation Combat Vehicle in fiscal year 2022. Last month, AM General was awarded an Army contract for as many as 2,800 new M997A3 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) ambulances. The contract could be worth as much as $800 million if all options were exercised, AM General said at the time. Last year, the Pentagon awarded AM General a $550 million contract to deliver HMMWVs for use as protected weapons carriers, cargo transporters and ambulances to Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Jordan, Slovenia, Bahrain, Columbia, Bosnia and Kenya as a part of a larger Foreign Military Sales agreement. The sale of AM General offers an opportunity to purchase a prime contractor that delivers a finished product to the Pentagon, and not just an add-on system or service.

Army's first surplus Humvee auction brings in $744,000

The first public auction of surplus US Army Humvees has came and went, and to call it a rousing success would be a major understatement. Auctioneers IronPlanet Inc., unloaded 25 trucks on behalf of the Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency. Bidding started at a meager $10,000 for the privilege of driving home in America's most iconic military vehicle. With $744,000 changing hands, the average Humvee crossed the block for just under $30,000, while the highest winning bid was $41,000, for a 1994 vintage, and the lowest winning price was $21,500, Military.com reports. If those prices seem a smidge low, it's because they are. A quick check of AutoTrader revealed that, nationwide, the cheapest Hummer H1 was up for grabs for $31,300, while the most expensive, a 2006 H1 Alpha, was going for $149,995. Of course, there's a good reason you might want to consider the civilian model, as Military.com explains it. AM General, the Humvee's manufacturer, is pretty unequivocal on its website, saying, "The Humvee was designed for a military mission and was not designed to meet civilian safety standards." It gets worse, though. "AM General does not endorse nor support the sale of these military vehicles to the general public or private entities. AM General further opposes any use of these military vehicles by individuals or entities outside of the military context for which the vehicles are designed. AM General does not sell the military vehicle or service parts for the military vehicle to the general public." Somehow, though, we doubt that will stop those that are truly interested in the brutish military vehicle. The 25 Humvees sold in this first auction had simply been gathering dust at Utah's Hill Air Force Base, according to Military.com. Considering this auction's success, and the fact that there are apparently 4,000 more surplus Humvees sitting about, we doubt this will be the last time the military turns to auction houses to unload inventory. News Source: Military.comImage Credit: SFC Michel Sauret / US Army Hummer Auctions SUV Military Off-Road Vehicles humvee