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About AM General
AM General is an American heavy vehicle manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, best known for the civilian Hummer and military HMMWV. Its only assembly plant is in Mishawaka, Indiana.
Corporate history
AM General's roots (and its location in South Bend) lie with the "General Products Division" of Studebaker, which, along with its substantial defense contracts, was acquired by Kaiser Industries after Studebaker left the auto industry in 1966. American Motors Corporation (AMC) became the owner when it purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970, and Kaiser left the auto business. In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of Jeep (producing contract and non-commercial vehicles) a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it AM General Corporation. American Motors ended its history as an independent automaker in 1982 when controlling interest in the company was purchased by France's Renault. US Government regulations forbade ownership of defense contractors by foreign governments, and Renault was partially owned by the French government. Therefore, in 1983, AM General was sold by AMC to the LTV Corporation and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the LTV Aerospace and Defense Company.
AM General produced buses, large trucks, and Jeeps for industrial, military, and government use. In the late 1970s, it developed the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, AKA "Humvee") for military use as a heavy-duty replacement for the jeep. The vehicle later became available in a civilian version sold under the Hummer brand name. Another familiar product from the AM General line was the DJ-5 series—a purpose built "Delivery 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.
AM General, which remains an independent company and government and military contractor, sold the rights to the Hummer name to General Motors in 1999 but continues to build the vehicles for GM. GM was sued early in 2003 by DaimlerChrysler, owners of the Jeep brand, for the Hummer's seven slot grille which resembled the design DaimlerChrysler argued consumers associated with Jeep vehicles. The lawsuit was dismissed due to the past corporate history involving AMC and Jeep. Production of the Hummer H1 (the "H1" designation differentiates it from the H2 and H3 that were derived from GM-developed platforms) was discontinued in June 2006.
