Las Vegas Hummer Dealership Switches to SMART Cars and Vespa Scooters
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 09.12.08
Hummer Excessive Even for Bling City
Dan Towbin's Hummer dealership in Las Vegas is one of the biggest in the USA. It was even featured in the "King of Cars" documentary on A&E. But the time they are a-changin', and the Vegas Hummer dealership will soon shut down, making it at least the 8th Hummer dealership to close in the US.
Reborn from the Ashes, Smaller & Smarter
But Mr. Towbin has plans. ACcording to the WSJ, he wants to open a Smart car dealership, and he's already selling many other brands including Vespa scooters. From Hummers to Smarts and Vespas. Not bad.
Reason for Abandoning Hummers
But what's more impressive is that Towbin stays a "uber-Hummer enthusiast". The reason for the switch isn't so much personal convictions as economic reality. This means that it's not only one guy who decided to close down his dealership, but rather that a lot of people in Vegas are interested by smaller vehicles than before.
The brand’s troubles are understandable. With the national average for a price of gas resting at $3.66 a gallon, it costs $84 to fill up Hummer’s smallest model–the H3. At that price, an H3 owner in Las Vegas could fly to Los Angeles for a roundtrip weekend getaway for about as much as it would cost to drive the H3.
Thanks to Brian Easterling for the tip!
Via Autoblog
Hummers
The Treehugger Hummer: We Don't Have Anything to Do With It
Hummer H2 Reaches End of the Road: Will be Terminated
GM Kills the Hummer H1
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Build a Greenhouse without Going Broke
- Is the Cash for Clunkers Program Right for You?
- Does Your Car Qualify for the Federal 'Cash for Clunker' Program?
- Is School Food Harming Kids? Enlist a Labor Day Eat-In To Promote Fresh, Healthy Food
- iPhone 3GS: Snap Close-Up Pictures Like a Pro (Video!)
- Track Buses by Phone, Internet, Bus Stop
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Vegas is already pretty unsustainable itself, it didn't need hummers too.
Talk about half-truths. From the source article:
"He says he'll bring in another GM dealership alongside the SMART store to replace the HUMMERs."
Yeah, it's a big dealership and he's selling a lot of kinds of vehicles. but dropping hummer and taking up smart certainly is a sign of the times we live in. good move
motivation aside, good news.
I live in Las Vegas and I am grateful that this place is closing. Driving around here I feel like there are more Hummers and other SUVs than anywhere else in the country I've been to, and the worst part is, not a single person I know that has a Hummer actually uses to go out in the desert.
I just heard advertised on the radio yesterday that you can get a Hummer at this place for $15K... it was $30K just a year ago. And if thats not cheap enough, just make them an offer, there that desperate.
I hadn't heard that it was going to be converted to a Smart/GM dealership, but I'm pleased about the Smart part. We have a ton of smart cars in town, but most of them are imported conversions for the tourist car rental companies on the strip. If we get a dealership maybe more locals will finally start driving them.