[Chetry:] After a taxpayer bailout, things are starting to look out for General Motors. In fact, the "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the automaker will start airing Super Bowl ads next year after a two-year hiatus.
[Roberts:] But part of it's recovery means the end of the road for some memorable GM brands including the biggest one of them all. Allan Chernoff is here with the AM Original for us, big in terms of size, not necessarily sales, right?
[Allan Chernoff, Cnn Senior Correspondent:] Absolutely. The biggest vehicle that GM has ever sold to the public, and this is indeed, the end of the road for the Hummer. The final Hummers are driving off dealer lots after GM's plan to sell the branch which Chinese company fell through. It's very well-confirmed environmentalist who absolutely hate those massive vehicles, but those who still drive and sell Hummers, they love them. Losing the Hummer for them is like losing a member of the family.
[Chernoff:] Meet Kevin Dolloson baby, all 393 Hummer Horsepower.
[Kevin Dolloson, Hummer Owner:] I can't stand to see my baby dirty.
[Chernoff:] Truth is, Kevin's Hummer H2 is more than his baby. It is his alter ego in steel and leather.
[Dolloson:] If I was going to be reincarnated and be a vehicle, this is the vehicle I would be.
[Chernoff:] Has man ever been more in love with machine especially now that General Motors is ending the Hummer brand. That's part of GM's strategy to revive the company after it received a taxpayer bailout.
[Dolloson:] I am so sad. It's going to be a sad day, you know, when these vehicles are completely gone.
[Chernoff:] The new ones, almost off. The larger H2 models like Kevin's went out of production last year, and last month, GM built the final hummer H3. Only about 1,000 of them remain on dealer lots. GM is offering incentives of as much as $5,700 to move out the vehicles that once sold for more than $35,000. Environmentalists are cheering as the gas guzzlers drive into the sunset, but dealer, David Ferraez says, he is losing the most athletic vehicle he's ever sold, and he sold frantic. This H3 is his last one, and it's already been claimed.
[David Ferraez, President, Green Brook Hummer:] I got a lot of broken hearted customers by us losing this franchise. I'm a broken hearted dealer, too.
[Chernoff:] The Hummer is the ultimate macho vehicle, a man's man type of an SUV. But dealers say more women have bought Hummers than men. For women, buying one of these is sort of like dating the captain of the football team? Is that an appropriate comparison?
[Ferraez:] I like that. Ladies love to drive them. They sit up high. They know they're sitting on a stud athlete here. So, they feel real comfortable and confident in this vehicle.
[Chernoff:] Dealers could be confident of a hefty profit margin selling Hummers. The starting list price for an H2 last year was $63,000.
[Ferraez:] There is nothing like a Hummer, and I'm going to miss Hummer.
[Chernoff:] A dealer's sadness matched only by an owner's determination now to hold on to his Hummer.
[Dolloson:] I'll drive this big vehicle 'til the wheels fall off.
[Chernoff:] Just in case the wheels do fall off, GM is saying, dealers will continue to service Hummers. That, by the way, remains a very profitable business.
[Chetry:] I could imagine. So, what was it that ultimately killed the Hummer? I mean, was it the high gas prices?
[Chernoff:] I think you have to look back to the fact that gas prices did go over $4. Even though, the average price now is back to about $2.70 a gallon. The fact is, when gasoline went over four dollars, that did something to the public. They said, you know what, enough, and the environmental movement was in full swing at that point as well. I think that one-two punch.
[Roberts:] That sort of became the anti-Christ of the automotive industry, didn't it?
[Chernoff:] Yes, it did. Yes. A lot of patriot, a lot of people thinking, why is somebody driving that? We just saw why. Some people just love it.
[Chetry:] It's not the end, end, end of the road, is it? It could come back.
[Chernoff:] GM is holding on to the brand name. They have the copy write, so it's theoretically possible. Those Hummer lovers have something to look forward to.
[Roberts:] Maybe in a decade, there will come with a lovely little electric motor in the future. That would be it.
[Chetry:] There you go.
[Roberts:] Thanks, Allan.
[Chetry:] Thanks.
[Roberts:] Primary day today, and we got 11 primaries and another special election. What are the races to watch? Well, how about an election showdown in Arkansas. We'll have the skinny for you on that.