GM Preps H2 for Russia

General Motors Corp. may export its H2 SUV to Russia as early as this year, a Hummer official says.

“We're probably going to end up sending H2s to Russia. There's a very affluent market in Russia. That could happen this year. It's moving pretty fast,” Mike DiGiovanni, Hummer general manager, tells Ward's during a media preview of GM's '04 models in Milan, MI.

By September or October, H2 sales should begin elsewhere in Europe. GM is finalizing distribution plans there, as well as in the Middle East and Japan. DiGiovanni forecasts combined overseas annual sales totaling 500 units. There are no plans for right-hand-drive versions.

The new markets add to Hummer's growing brand identity. The nameplate is preparing to roll out the H2 sport/utility truck, due in dealerships by late May 2004. Combined H2 SUV and SUT sales in the U.S. should total 40,000 units annually, says DiGiovanni.

H2 debuted in mid-2002 and sold 18,861 units. (Through June of this year, deliveries totaled 28,089.) The SUT will account for roughly one of every three transactions, DiGiovanni says. But he notes the H1 sales split is 60% SUV and 40% SUT.