The Hummer family is born

AM General receives a contract from the Pentagon to develop the high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, or HMMWV, on March 22, 1983.

Nicknamed the Humvee and designed to transport troops and cargo, the wide, rugged vehicle gained fame when it was used by U.S. military personnel during the 1989 invasion of Panama and the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s.

The initial contract was worth $1.2 billion for 55,000 Humvees.

The Humvees were to be delivered in five basic models and 15 configurations over five years.

The U.S. Army later increased the order to 70,000 Humvees valued at $1.6 billion.

Preliminary design work for the Humvee began in 1979 and in 1981, the Army awarded AM General a prototype contract. The development and operational testing took place over five months in 1982.

Equipped with full-time four-wheel drive, the Humvee also featured an independent suspension, 16 inches of ground clearance and steep approach and departure angles. It could navigate a 60 percent grade.

The Army awarded AM General contracts again in 1989, 1994 and 2000.

Production of a civilian Humvee, dubbed the Hummer, started in 1992. The hulking, attention-grabbing vehicle tipped the scales at some 10,000 pounds and delivered less than 10 mpg. It proved a hit with Hollywood celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1999, AM General and General Motors finalized an agreement in which the companies would jointly pursue product, marketing and distribution opportunities for Hummer.

GM acquired the exclusive ownership of the Hummer brand name, and in turn, the Hummer H1 was born.

A second model, the H2, went on sale in 2002 and was also produced under contract by AM General.

Production of the H1 ended in June 2006.

In 2008, amid rising gasoline prices and increasing economic uncertainty, as well as heightened environmental awareness, Hummer's U.S. sales fell more than 50 percent.

On June 1, 2009, GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under government supervision. The following day, GM said it would sell the Hummer brand to a Chinese machinery company as part of its reorganization. But the deal never materialized and GM announced plans in 2010 to phase out Hummer.

Today, AM General continues to manufacture military and civilian vehicles, namely the Mercedes-Benz R-class crossover for sale in China and the MV-1, a wheelchair-accessible van.