honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, August 10, 2003

GM guards Hummer's look

By Jim Mateja
Chicago Tribune

In the end, it boiled down to sex appeal. Specifically, to which sex it appealed.

General Motors sued Avanti Motor Corp. in February, charging that the Georgia-based automaker misappropriated the shape of the Hummer H2 by unveiling the Studebaker XUV.

Avanti now has agreed not to make a sport utility similar to GM's Hummer H2.

GM won't allow others to profit from the popularity of Hummer H2 by copying its look, said Chuck Ellerbrock, a GM trademark attorney.

"Actually, GM jumped the gun," insisted Avanti Chairman Michael Kelly. "The Studebaker XUV was a work in progress. We thought the majority of people it would appeal to were men, but at the auto show we found the reaction was greater from ... middle-age moms who still have kids in school."

Avanti made changes to its design, but Kelly said the differences are minimal.

GM reviewed the sketches before agreeing to the settlement.