Hummer is a brand of off-road vehicles sold by General Motors . The original Hummer H1 was based on the military High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle . However, the Hummer H2 and the Hummer H3 were based on other, smaller civilian-market vehicles. Hummers were originally built by AM General Corporation, which was formerly AMC Jeep's General Products division, in its Mishawaka, Indiana assembly plant. They were created under a contract for the United States armed forces. The first model, the Hum-Vee, was built in a variety of military-based equipment and versions. These included troop... carriers, gun turrets and radar. The U.S. military, on receiving their quota, have adapted some of the vehicles, including modifications to facilitate a directional microwave crowd control beam . AM General began to make plans to sell a civilian version of the vehicle after the military model received so much public interest in the late 1980s. In 1990, two matching white Hum-Vees were driven from London to Beijing over the rough roads of central Soviet Union. The Hummers made the trip with ease, for they were built to drive on off-road terrain.