AM General

AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana.[2] For a relatively brief period, 1974–1979, the company also manufactured transit buses, making more than 5,400.[3]

AM General LLC
LLC
IndustryVehicles, automotive, military
PredecessorKaiser Jeep
Founded1971 (1971)
Headquarters
South Bend, Indiana
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
R. Andrew Hove (CEO and President)[1]
ProductsHMMWV/Hummer H2, M35, and 5-ton trucks, Humvee C-Series, Mercedes-Benz R-Class (former)
ParentMacAndrews & Forbes
Renco Group
SubsidiariesGeneral Engine Products
General Transmission Products
Websitewww.amgeneral.com

Corporate history

AM General traces its roots to the Standard Wheel Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, which expanded in 1903 to include the Overland Automotive Division.[4] In 1908, John North Willys purchased the Overland company, then based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and renamed it Willys-Overland Motors. In the 1940s, it developed a vehicle to US Army specifications and later mass-produced "America's first four-wheel drive one-fourth-ton tactical utility truck"—the Jeep of World War II fame.[4] In 1953, Kaiser Motors purchased Willys-Overland, changing its name to first to Kaiser-Willys Motor Company and Kaiser-Jeep Corporation in 1963. In 1970 it was purchased by American Motors Corporation.

Defense and Government Products Division

In 1964, Kaiser-Jeep purchased the Studebaker facilities in South Bend, Indiana, which included Studebaker's "General Products Division", along with its substantial defense contracts.

At the time, Kaiser had been awarded a US$87 million Army truck contract, and under government pressure agreed to perform the work at the South Bend plant it had recently acquired from Studebaker.

American Motors

American Motors Corporation (AMC) purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970 when it decided to leave the auto business.[5]

In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of Jeep (producing military trucks as well as contract and non-commercial vehicles) a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it AM General Corporation.[6]

American Motors ceased to function as an independent automaker in 1982 when a controlling interest was purchased by Renault.[7]

US government regulations at that time forbade ownership of defense contractors by foreign governments--and Renault was partially owned by the French government.[8]

LTV Corporation

In 1983, LTV Corporation bought AM General and established it as a wholly owned subsidiary. In 1984, its headquarters moved from the American Motors AMTEK Building in Detroit, Michigan, to Livonia, Michigan, and two years later to South Bend, Indiana, where primary manufacturing operations were located.

Renco Group

In 1992, AM General was sold to Renco Group, which in 2002 converted it to a limited liability company.

Hummer brand

In 1992 AM General began marketing the HMMWV to the civilian market under the Hummer brand. In 1999 GM acquired the rights to the brand and continued production of the original civilian Hummer as the H1 until June 2006.[9]

AM General built a separate factory for the new Hummer H2, designed by and marketed by GM. The vehicle went on the market in 2002 and was produced until January 2009. AM General did not build the H3 model.

GM was sued early in 2003 by DaimlerChrysler, owners of the Jeep brand, for the resemblance of the Hummer's seven-slot grille to Jeep's.[10] The lawsuit was dismissed after acknowledgment of the shared corporate history of AMC and Jeep.[11]

2004 - Present

On August 20, 2004, it was announced that Ronald Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes company would form a joint venture with AM General's current owner, Renco Group, to give Perelman 70% ownership. The deal reportedly cost close to US$1 billion.[12]

In 2008, AM General and the Vehicle Production Group (VPG), of Troy, Michigan, announced that contracts had been signed for AM General to begin producing purpose-built taxi-cabs in 2009.[13] Actual production would not begin until October 2011. The first vehicle off the line was presented to Marc Buoniconti, a former linebacker for The Citadel who was partially paralyzed in 1985.[14]

In May 2010, Azure Dynamics announced it had chosen AM General to assemble its electric drivetrain for Ford Transit Connect vehicles for the North American market at its Livonia, Michigan, factory.[15]

In September 2013, AM General reached an agreement to purchase the United States Department of Energy's secured loan to the Vehicle Production Group (VPG). Prior to this, AM General acted as sole vehicle assembler for VPG. As a result of this transaction, AM General created a wholly owned company, Mobility Ventures LLC, to operate the Mobility Vehicle-1 (MV-1) business and receive all VPG assets.[16]

In 2015, production of the Mercedes-Benz R-Class began at the Mishawaka assembly plant.[17] Without this deal, "the German automaker would likely have had to shut down production of the vehicle, currently only sold in China."[18] Production ended in October 2017.

Jeep Dispatcher 100
1975 AM General RHD postal delivery van

Another familiar product from the AM General line was the Jeep DJ-5 series—a purpose built "Dispatch Jeep" 2-wheel drive (RWD) version of the Jeep CJ-5—used in huge numbers as a right-hand drive mail delivery vehicle by the United States Postal Service.

Buses
A 1976 AM General bus of Tri-Met, in Portland, Oregon, showing AM General logo on front

The AM General Metropolitan buses were manufactured for city transit use from 1974 until 1979, producing a total of 5,431 buses (including 219 electric trolley buses).[3][3] The Metropolitan was built under a 1971 agreement with Flyer Industries of Winnipeg, Manitoba; AM General licensed the rights to build and market the Western Flyer D700 for the US market. The D700 itself was similar in design to the contemporaneous GM New Look buses.[19] The front end of the D700 was restyled and thus the resulting Metropolitan was not simply a Flyer design built under license but rather a jointly designed vehicle. Flyer later adopted the design changes for its own line as the models D800 and E800.[3] Buses were built in lengths of either 35 ft (10.7 m) or 40 ft (12.2 m), and widths of 96 in (2,438 mm) or 102 in (2,591 mm).[19] The model numbers reflected the chosen dimensions; for example, model "10240" indicated a 102-inch wide, 40-foot long bus. Suffixes "A" or "B" were used for later models to indicate certain options. In total, 3,571 40-foot diesel buses and 1,641 35-foot diesel buses were produced.[3]

Articulated buses
A MAN articulated bus in Seattle that was completed by AM General

In 1977–1979, AM General also worked under a partnership with MAN of Germany to build SG 220 articulated buses for US transit systems. MAN fabricated the bodyshells in Germany and shipped them to the US for AM General for final assembly. [20] Two different lengths were offered, 55 ft (16.8 m) and 60 ft (18.3 m); 93 buses were built to the shorter length while the rest were 60 feet long. By October 1978,[20] the company discontinued bus production with the last unit completed in March 1979.[3] The total number built was just under 400 (392[20] or 399[3]), the largest group by far being 150 for Seattle's Metro Transit.[3] MAN subsequently set up its own factory for US production in Cleveland, North Carolina.[3]

Trolleybuses

Production of complete motor buses (and of any two-axle motor buses) had ended in 1978 and aside from the fitting-out of the last articulated MAN shells, the only production in 1979 was two batches of trolleybuses (and the only such vehicles ever built by the company).[21] These were all 40-foot (12.2 m) vehicles, model 10240T: 110 trackless trolleys for the Philadelphia trolleybus system, operated by SEPTA; and 109 for the Seattle trolleybus system, operated by Metro Transit (now King County Metro). One of the latter has been preserved since its retirement in 2003 by King County Metro (see King County Metro fleet).

Development and production of the HMMWV
AM General HMMWV in Iraq

In 1979, AM General began preliminary design work on the M998 Series High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, pronounced Humvee), a 1.25-ton truck intended to replace the M151 and other Light Utility Vehicles. The US Army awarded AM General a prototype contract in 1981 with development and operational testing conducted over a five-month period in 1982. In March 1983, AM General won an initial $1.2 billion contract to produce 55,000 Humvees to be delivered in five basic models and 15 different configurations over a five-year period.

Production began at the Mishawaka, Indiana, assembly plant in the fall of 1984 and the first deliveries were made in early 1985. Total international production by mid-1991 was more than 72,000. Since 1991, an additional 20,000 HMMWVs ordered brought total international production to 100,000 in March 1995.

Late in 2000, AM General was awarded another contract for 2,962 M998A2 series trucks. The contract contained six single-year options running to fiscal year 2007 and continues to be renewed. To date, nearly 250,000 units have been produced.

Humvees feature full-time four-wheel drive, an independent suspension, steep approach and departure angles, 60-percent grade ability and 16 inches (406 mm) of ground clearance. More recent production models include the M1151, M1152, M1165, and M1167. As of 2015, Humvees are in use by the US Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy. The combined fleet numbers 140,000.[22] More than 50 nations have bought these vehicles, too.

The Humvee's replacement, a completely new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) design, has been in production by Oshkosh Corporation since 2016.[22] AM General was unsuccessful in its bid for this $30-billion 25-year contract, leading to fears that the company might not remain independent, but it is now focused on military Humvee support (they still outnumber JLTVs by three to one) and development of a new ambulance model.[23]

Other military vehicles

AM General also acquired Department of Defense contracts for medium and heavy trucks, including the M151 series,[24] M35 series, and a heavier 5-ton series.

In 2005, AM General was contracted to take over militarization, sales, and marketing of LSSV vehicles.[25]

References
  1. "R. Andrew Hove - AM General". AM General. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  2. "Track Record - AM General". AM General. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  3. Stauss, Ed (1988). The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses. Stauss Publications. pp. 20–22, 116–117. ISBN 978-0-9619830-0-0.
  4. "Company History". AM General. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  5. Statham, Steve (2002). Jeep Color History. MotorBooks International. pp. 97–100. ISBN 978-0-7603-0636-9. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  6. Hyde, Charles K. (2009). Storied Independent Automakers: Nash, Hudson, and American Motors. Wayne State University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-8143-3446-1.
  7. Foster, Patrick (2002). "Biography: Roy Chapin, Jr". Automobile Quarterly. 42 (3): 109.
  8. Olsen, Byron; Cabadas, Joseph P.; Cabadas, Joseph (2002). The American Auto Factory. MotorBooks International. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-7603-1059-5. Retrieved 21 September 2010. The Pentagon didn't want a French-controlled company making American military equipment
  9. "GM: End of Production Line for Hummer H1". Fox News. Associated Press. 12 May 2006. Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  10. "DaimlerChrysler Files Suit to Block Copycat Jeep Grille". autointell.com. 21 February 2001. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  11. K.C Crain; Dale Jewett (25 November 2002). "GM wins another round in the Hummer-Jeep grille battle". Automotive News. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  12. Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Hakim, Danny (10 August 2004). "Perelman Seeks Controlling Stake in Maker of Hummer". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  13. "VPG Partners with AM General to Build the Standard Taxi!". Vehicle Production Group. Archived from the original on August 15, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  14. Ewing, Steven J. (6 October 2011). "2011 VPG Autos MV-1". autoblog.com. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  15. Snavely, Brent (28 May 2010). "AM General to assemble electric Transit Connect". Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  16. "AM General Announces Agreement Leading To Ownership And Control Of The Vehicle Production Group" (Press release). AM General. 5 September 2013. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  17. Gardner, Greg (27 January 2015). "Mercedes-Benz moves R-Class output to AM General". USAToday. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  18. Naughton, Nora (11 August 2015). "Mercedes R class production launched at AM General". Automotive News. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  19. Brophy, Jim (March 12, 2016). "Bus Stop Classic: Flxible and AM General New Look Buses – Playing Second Fiddle to GM". Curbside Classic. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  20. "AM General Corporation (history of)". Motor Coach Age: 3–18. February 1985. ISSN 0739-117X.
  21. Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia. Trolleybooks. ISBN 978-0-904235-18-0.
  22. Shalal, Andrea (2015-08-25). "UPDATE 3-Oshkosh Corp wins U.S. Army award for Humvee replacement". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  23. Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Award Shakes Up Industry Archived 2017-02-09 at the Wayback Machine - Nationaldefensemagazine.org, October 2015
  24. M151 Truck, Utility, l/4-Ton, 4×4
  25. "Light Service Support Vehicle (LSSV)". Olive-Drab. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
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