General Motors announced at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney that the HUMMER brand will going on sales in Australia. HUMMER will enter the Australia market with a right-hand drive version of its midsize H3 SUV next year.

Starting in mid-2007, the H3 will begin arriving in dealerships across the country. Initially, the vehicles will only be available with the 3.7L five cylinder gasoline engine, but a diesel is expected to be offered at a later date.

The Australian HUMMER H3s will be built at GM’s Port Elizabeth facility in South Africa, which just launched production earlier this month.

Full press release after the jump.

## Source: General Motors ##

HUMMER Continues Global Expansion Down Under

H3 comes to Australia in 2007
HUMMER brand sustains steady, upward sales trend around the world

SYDNEY ? HUMMER will enter the Australia market with a right-hand drive version of its midsize H3 SUV next year. The announcement was made today at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.

“HUMMER’s pedigree is ideally suited to Australia’s diverse and challenging off-road environments. Given the H3’s midsize proportions, it will be equally at home on city and suburban roads,” said Martin Walsh, HUMMER general manager.

The first H3’s will begin arriving in dealerships across Australia in mid-2007. Those vehicles will be built at GM’s Port Elizabeth facility in South Africa. Earlier this month that plant began assembling the H3 for sale in South Africa and certain export markets. Both left-hand and right-hand drive models will be manufactured there. Initially, the H3 will be available with a gasoline engine, with a diesel version to be offered at a later date. Previously the H3 was solely assembled in GM’s North American facility in Shreveport, Louisiana.

While details regarding the distribution network and pricing are not yet available, HUMMER retailers will be located in major metropolitan areas including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth.

The H3 made its debut in North America in May of 2005, and has helped make HUMMER the fastest growing automotive brand in the United States. The H3 has made the HUMMER brand more accessible with its smaller, more efficient package, while still retaining all of the characteristics that make a HUMMER unique: iconic design and unparalleled off-road performance.

The H3 has proven so popular that through September of this year, HUMMER’s total global sales were up by 54 percent. H3 comprised the majority of that volume, both in the U.S. and abroad. In fact, H3 sales were up 120 percent compared to the first nine months of 2005. In North America alone, H3 sales for the 2006 have grown 53.5 percent compared to the same period in 2005.

In Europe, where the H3 went on sale in the summer of 2005, that vehicle’s sales were up more than 200 percent. And, in HUMMER markets within the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region, the brand saw an increase of more than 450 percent overall. Last year, in total 56,353 HUMMER vehicles were sold globally. Since the first H2 went on sale in 2002, the brand has experienced annual sales increases in three of four years.

“We’re energized about our global expansion plans,” noted Walsh. “We intend to broaden the HUMMER portfolio with new models that maintain HUMMER’s trademark iconic design and superior off-road capabilities.”

HUMMER (www.hummer.com) is a division of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer, which employs about 321,000 people globally. The HUMMER product line-up consists of the H2, H2 SUT, and H3.

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