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Are orphan cars better deals?

Most folks don't know a Saturn Aura from an Oldsmobile Aurora. Those of you who are immersed in the labyrinth of automobilia know that both cars were testaments to the mediocrity that was pre-bankruptcy General Motors, and that both brands are now long gone. But everybody else? Not so much. By the same token, there are some excellent cars and trucks that don't raise an eyebrow simply because they were sold under brands that are no longer being marketed. Orphan brands no longer get any marketing love, and because of that they can be alarmingly cheap. Case in point, take a look at how a 2010 Saturn Outlook compares with its siblings, the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave. According to the Manheim Market Report, the Saturn will sell at a wholesale auto auction for around $3,500 less than the comparably equipped Buick or GMC. Part of the reason for this price gap is that most large independent dealerships, such as Carmax, make it a point to avoid buying cars with orphaned badges. Right now if you go to Carmax's site, you'll find that there are more models from Toyota's Scion sub-brand than Mercury, Saab, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saturn combined. This despite the fact that these brands collectively sold in the millions over the last ten years while Scion has rarely been able to realize a six-figure annual sales figure for most of its history. That is the brutal truth of today's car market. When the chips are down, used-car shoppers are nearly as conservative as their new-car-buying counterparts. Unfamiliarity breeds contempt. Contempt leads to fear. Fear leads to anger, and pretty soon you wind up with an older, beat-up Mazda MX-5 in your driveway instead of looking up a newer Pontiac Solstice or Saturn Sky. There are tons of other reasons why orphan cars have trouble selling in today's market. Worries about the cost of repair and the availability of parts hang over the industry's lost toys like a cloud of dust over Pigpen. Yet any common diagnostic repair database, such as Alldata, will have a complete framework for your car's repair and maintenance, and everyone from junkyards to auto parts stores to eBay and Amazon stock tens of thousands of parts. This makes some orphan cars mindblowingly awesome deals if you're willing to shop in the bargain bins of the used-car market. Consider a Suzuki Kizashi with a manual transmission. No, really.

Hummer officially returns as an EV with 1,000 hp in Super Bowl ad

Hummer, the iconic, controversial and long-dead truck and SUV maker, returned this Sunday in a Super Bowl ad that previewed its comeback under the GMC brand. General Motors announced the move and teased the vehicle with a series of clips (below) Thursday morning, confirming reports of Hummer's resurrection that have simmered for months. The bane of environmentalists in the early 2000s, Hummer is recast as an electric-only truck capable of a jaw-dropping 1,000 horsepower, 11,500 lb-ft of torque (we believe this figure to be wheel torque) and a sprint to 60 mph in 3 seconds. “We came to play ball,” a spokesman deadpanned in an interview with Autoblog. Electric range was not revealed. The teaser shots show a grille that recalls old Hummer vehicles, though the look is updated with flashy lights. GM will build the reborn Hummer at the Detroit-Hamtramck factory in Michigan that was once thought to be set to close. It will be revealed May 20 at an event, possibly in Las Vegas. The truck will be available in fall 2021. “GMC builds premium and capable trucks and SUVs and the GMC HUMMER EV takes this to new heights,” Duncan Aldred, vice president of Global Buick and GMC, said in a statement. “We are excited to debut our revolutionary zero-emissions truck during the biggest night in TV advertising.” The Super Bowl ad aired just before halftime in the United States and featured Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.  In a statement, he said: “Teaming up with GMC to introduce the Hummer EV is a natural fit. Everyone knows about my love for Hummer since high school and IÂ’m proud to be a part of announcing the new EV model. The truck may be quiet, but the performance numbers speak for themselves.” Hummer will take aim at a slew of electric truck and SUV makers, including Rivian, which announced Wednesday plans to help build LincolnÂ’s first electric vehicle in its partnership with Ford Motor Co. Hummer will also face off against the Tesla Cybertruck, BollingerÂ’s EVs and other competitors.    GM shuttered Hummer in 2010 after trying to sell the brand to Chinese investors as it shed units during its historic bankruptcy and restructuring.  With today's announcement, GM issued a truckload of videos on the new Hummer:    

GMC Hummer EV could have had the Chevrolet Avalanche's Midgate

One of the many rumors swirling around the GMC Hummer EV claimed the truck would resurrect the Midgate inaugurated by the original Chevrolet Avalanche. Although we now know there's no way to fully knock down the partition between the cab and the cargo box, the firm revealed the rumor wasn't entirely false. "There was [a Midgate] early on. We opted for the functionality of the drop glass in the back. With the package layout and things like that, it was not advantageous to pursue that one. And, the five-foot bed was kind of the industry standard in regards to price of entry in that segment," explained John Mack, the Hummer's exterior design management, during an interview with Muscle Car & Trucks. The Hummer will go on sale with a five-foot box, and it doesn't sound like a longer bed will be available, so a modern version of the Midgate would have made the model more versatile by giving users the ability to fold down the partition behind the rear seats to carry bulky items, like plywood and ATVs. It's a feature that would have inevitably made the truck more complicated to build, however, because it adds moving parts that need to be sealed. Hinges, seals, and latches in turn add weight, and complexity almost always invites high manufacturing costs. As an electric pickup built with newly-developed components, the Hummer already has enough of each. Motorists who need to carry something that's significantly longer than the cargo box aren't entirely out of luck. As Mack pointed out, the rear window drops into the partition, so owners will have the ability to haul surfboards, lumber, or anything else that's relatively long and reasonably thin by simply pushing a switch. Alternatively, the only thing limiting cargo space when the roof comes off is the sky — or, depending on where you live, bridges. Mack didn't reveal when the Midgate was dropped. GMC launched the Hummer project in April 2019, and it previously released early design sketches that show how the truck transitioned from a sketch to a prototype. As of writing, nothing suggests the Midgate will make a comeback in the near future on any member of the General Motors portfolio. It was introduced in 2001 on the first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, which went on sale in the United States for the 2002 model year. It later spread to Cadillac's luxed-up variant of the truck, the Escalade EXT, and to the short-lived GMC Envoy XUV.