AM General is an American heavy vehicle and

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

automotive manufacturer based in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

. It is best known for the civilian

Hummer Hummer (stylized in all caps) is an American brand of Pickup truck, pickups launched in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. Although discontinued in 2010, Hummer returned as a model under GMC (automob ...

and the military

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of Military light utility vehicle, light, four-wheel drive Military vehicle#Military trucks, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It ...

that are assembled in

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka () is a city on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Misha ...

. From 1974 to 1979 the company also manufactured

transit bus A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-floo ...

es, making more than 5,400 of them. AM General has also been a provider of vehicles for the CUCV program carried out by the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

.Military Trucks: From the Dodge WC to the GM LSSV
by Edward A. Sanchez on Motor Trend.com, 4 Jul 2013

History

Beginning

AM General traces its roots to the Standard Wheel Company of

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and Terre Haute metropolitan area, its metropolitan area had a populati ...

, which expanded in 1903 to include the Overland Automotive Division. In 1908, John North Willys purchased the Overland company, then based in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, and renamed it

Willys-Overland Willys (pronounced , "Willis") was a brand name used by Willys–Overland Motors, an American automobile company, founded by John North Willys. It was best known for its design and production of World War II–era military jeeps (MBs), Willys ...

Motors. In 1941, the U.S. Army awarded a contract to Willys-Overland Motor Company to produce the Willys MB, also known as the Jeep, for the US Infantry. It then mass-produced that vehicle as "America's first four-wheel-drive, one-fourth-ton, tactical utility truck"—the

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

fame. In 1953,

Kaiser Motors Kaiser Motors (formerly Kaiser-Frazer) Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 until 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys, Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production ...

purchased Willys-Overland, changing its name first to Kaiser-Willys Motor Company, and in 1963, to Kaiser-Jeep Corporation. In 1970, it was purchased by

American Motors Corporation American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the mergers and acquisitions, merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 19 ...

(AMC). In July 2020,

KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...

acquired the company.

Defense and Government Products Division

In 1964, Kaiser-Jeep purchased the Studebaker facilities on Chippewa Avenue in

, which included Studebaker's "General Products Division", along with its substantial defense contracts. At the time, Kaiser had been awarded a

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

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

In 1970,

(AMC) purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser, when Kaiser decided to leave the auto business. In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of

(producing military trucks as well as contract and non-commercial vehicles) a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

and renamed it "AM General Corporation". In 1982, American Motors ceased to function as an independent

automaker The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries ...

, when

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

purchased a controlling interest. US government regulations at that time forbade ownership of

defense contractor A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military or intelligence department of a government. Products typically include military or civilian aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and ...

s by foreign governments—and Renault was partially owned by the French government.

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 Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, to

Livonia, Michigan Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...

, 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 A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

Hummer brand

In 1984, AM General built a factory at 13200 McKinley Hwy in Mishawaka, for HMMWV production. In 1992, AM General began marketing the HMMWV to the civilian market under the

brand. In 1999, GM acquired the rights to the brand and continued production of the original civilian Hummer as the H1 until June 2006. In 2002, the Hummer H2 went on the market, and was produced until January 2009. It was designed and marketed by GM, and manufactured by AM General at the Mishawaka plant. AM General did not build the H3 model. GM was sued early in 2003 by

DaimlerChrysler Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

, owners of the

brand, for the resemblance of the Hummer's seven-slot grille to Jeep's. The lawsuit was dismissed after acknowledgment of the shared corporate history of AMC and Jeep. GM in turn sued boutique automaker Avanti Motor Corporation of Cancun, Mexico after it introduced the Studebaker XUV at the Chicago Auto show in 2002. GM said Avanti infringed on the Hummer looks by planning a vehicle that closely resembled the Hummer. It seemed the AM General Hummer line had gone full circle back to the original Studebaker General Products Division which was responsible for all military contracts.

2004–present

In August 2004, it was announced that

Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, ca ...

MacAndrews & Forbes MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated is an American diversified holding company wholly owned by billionaire investor Ronald Perelman. Current investments include leading participants across a wide range of industries, from cosmetics and entertainme ...

company would form a joint venture with AM General's then-owner, Renco Group, to give Perelman 70% ownership. The deal reportedly cost close to US$1 billion. In 2008, AM General and the

Vehicle Production Group The Vehicle Production Group LLC (commonly referred as VPG)Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Troy is located about north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 87,294, ...

, announced that contracts had been signed for AM General to begin producing purpose-built taxi-cabs in 2009. Production began in October 2011. The first vehicle off the line was presented to Marc Buoniconti, a former linebacker for

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

who was partially paralyzed in 1985. In May 2010, Azure Dynamics announced it had chosen AM General to assemble its electric drivetrain for

Ford Transit Connect The Ford Transit Connect is a compact panel van sold by Ford since 2002. Developed by Ford of Europe, the model line replaced sedan-based vans ( Ford Escort and Ford Courier vans) with a dedicated commercial vehicle platform. The model lin ...

vehicles for the North American market at its Livonia, Michigan, factory. In September 2013, AM General reached an agreement to purchase the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

's secured loan to the

Vehicle Production Group The Vehicle Production Group LLC (commonly referred as VPG)Mercedes-Benz R-Class began at the Mishawaka assembly plant. Without this deal, "the German automaker would likely have had to shut down production of the vehicle, currently only sold in China." Production ended in October 2017. In July 2020, investment company

acquired AM General from its previous owner,

.KPS Capital Partners adquirirá AM General LLC
on PR Newswire, 22 Jul 2020 AM General submitted a prototype to become the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

's Next Generation Delivery Vehicle, but their entry was not chosen.

Products

Jeep Dispatcher 100

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

Buses

The AM General Metropolitan

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es were manufactured for city transit use from 1974 until 1979, producing a total of 5,431 buses, including 219 electric trolley buses. The Metropolitan was built under a 1971 agreement with Flyer Industries of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, 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 bus The GM New Look bus is a municipal transit bus that was introduced in 1959 by the GMC (automobile), Truck and Coach Division of General Motors to replace the company's previous coach, retroactively known as the GM "old-look" transit bus. Also c ...

es. 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. Buses were built in lengths of either or , and widths of or . 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.

Articulated buses

Seattle 1979 MAN articulated bus on Lenora St in 1994

In 1977–1979, AM General worked under a partnership with

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

of Germany to build SG 220

articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a ...

es for US transit systems. MAN fabricated the bodyshells in Germany and shipped them to the US for AM General for final assembly. Two different lengths were offered, and . 93 buses were built to the shorter length and the rest were 60 feet long. In October 1978, the company discontinued bus production, with the last unit completed in March 1979. The total number built was just under 400 (392 or 399), the largest group being 150 for Seattle's Metro Transit. MAN subsequently set up its own factory for US production in Cleveland, North Carolina.

Trolleybuses

Production of complete

motor bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es (and of any two-axle motor buses) ended in 1978. Aside from the fitting-out of the last articulated MAN shells, the only production in 1979 was two batches of

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es, the only such vehicles ever built by the company. These were all vehicles, model 10240T: 110 trackless trolleys for the Philadelphia trolleybus system, operated by

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

, 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

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. In 1981, the US Army awarded AM General a prototype contract. In 1982, development and operational testing was conducted over a five-month period. 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. In the fall of 1984, production began at the

, assembly plant. In early 1985, the first deliveries were made. The total international production by mid-1991 was more than 72,000. After 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 the fiscal year 2007 and continues to be renewed. 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 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. More than 50 nations have bought these vehicles.

Replacement

The Humvee's replacement, a completely new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) design, has been in production by

Oshkosh Corporation Oshkosh Corporation, formerly Oshkosh Truck, is an American industrial company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, truck bodies, airport fire apparatus, and access equipment. The corporation also owns Pierce Manufact ...

since 2016. AM General was unsuccessful in its bid for this $30-billion 25-year contract, and it is now focused on military Humvee support (they still outnumber JLTVs by three to one) and development of a new ambulance model. In February 2023, the US Army granted AM General a production contract worth more than $8.66bn to deliver next-generation JLTV A2 vehicles, under the US Army and the US Marine Corps’ Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programme. Under the contract, AM General will produce approximately 20,682 JLTV vehicles and 9,883 trailers. The contract includes the integration of technological enhancements for delivery to the US Armed Forces. Oshkosh Defense won the initial contract to supply its JLTV vehicles for the program.

Other military vehicles

AM General also acquired

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

contracts for medium and heavy trucks, including the M151 series, 2 1/2 ton M35 series, and 5 ton M809 series in the 1970s, then the M939 series in the 1980s. In 2005, AM General was contracted to take over militarization, sales, and marketing of LSSV vehicles.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Am General AM General Defense companies of the United States Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1971 Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Companies based in St. Joseph County, Indiana South Bend, Indiana Bus manufacturers of the United States American Motors Military vehicle manufacturers Car manufacturers of the United States Trolleybus manufacturers American companies established in 1971 1971 establishments in Indiana Contract vehicle manufacturers Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States