The military credits its new crop of hulking armored vehicles with saving hundreds of soldiers’ skins. But these Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) behemoths come with all kinds of problems, as well. They’re too bulky to drive through Iraqi alleyways and Afghan trails. And they’re prone to roll-overs. So the Army and Marines are looking for a next-gen MRAP, that combines the “agility, maneuverability and mobility” of a Humvee, with the protection of the brawny new vehicles.

Such a vehicle should not only be able to stop militants’ most advanced bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, the services noted in a request for information, issued late last week. It should also to climb a “60% forward slope,” beat a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour, and be able to “maneuver off-road and on narrow roads in rural mountainous terrain and desert sand.”

The 10-ton vehicle must be transportable on a C-130 cargo plane. It should have a minimum range of 300 miles, and a turning diameter of 49 feet, And the crew has to be able to get out quickly, in case of a rollover. (”Of the 38 MRAP accidents between Nov. 7 and June 8, only four did not involve a roll-over,” Army Times noted.)

Naturally, all of these new features would make the MRAP-lite “more expensive” than the current crop. And it “raise[s] questions about the future of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle” program, Inside the Army notes. That project is designed to come up with a replacement for the Humvee. But it sounds like this program could wind up doing the same, if it moves ahead.

General Motors Corp. hasn’t yet sought offers or discussed the sale of the Hummer sport-utility line with potential buyers, the brand’s general manager told dealers.

“GM did receive expressions of interest from various entities,” Martin Walsh said in a video sent to U.S. retailers yesterday. “But we have never solicited offers and we have not negotiated with any parties.”

He labeled as “just speculation” media reports that GM has engaged in talks with Indian companies Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd. as well as Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s Russian Machines. Joanne Krell, a spokeswoman for the Detroit-based automaker, confirmed the video.

Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said June 3 that GM is reviewing Hummer for a possible revamping or sale after purchases fell 36 percent through May from a year earlier, the most among any brand in the U.S. The automaker hired Citigroup Inc. to help study the unit.

“The review is being conducted with the utmost urgency and integrity,” said Walsh. The video was a regularly released business update.

Through July, Hummer sales in the U.S. plummeted 44 percent to 18,035 units, according to Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

The automaker is making “significant progress” on a plan that began in January to help improve Hummer dealer profitability on a case-by-case basis, Walsh said. He disputed media reports that said GM is working to buy out multiple dealerships.

U.S. Hummer dealers averaged 11 sales each in July, down from 12 in June and 28 apiece in July 2007, according to trade magazine Automotive News. The 102-day supply of Hummers on Aug. 1 exceeded the 98-day industrywide average for all types of trucks and was more than double the inventory of cars.

U.S. Hummer sales peaked in 2006 at 71,524 units, before dropping 22 percent last year.

GM gained 21 cents to $10.16 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 59 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net

These days, it’s not easy being king of the road.

Consider the Hummer H2, the four-wheel, four-star hotel. The thing goes anywhere with the quaint modesty of a Pershing tank. Of course, there is that miles-per-gallon issue.

Now and then, somebody accuses the owner of wrecking the planet.

Then comes the Prius or, as some prefer, “Dorkmobile.”

It fits into “green” parking spaces at the mall and can ride in some cities’ carpool lanes. But now and then, somebody accuses its owner of secretly being happy about the price of gas.

“There is the group that dislikes the Hummer and the group that dislikes the Prius,” said Ray Wert, editor of Jalopnik.com, a Web site that covers the auto industry. “And it’s for almost the same reason: the marketing of lifestyles that are almost nonexistent.”

So goes the invisible duel between America’s two most loved and hated vehicles.

It’s Hummer vs. Prius, smog vs. smug, HOG vs. POG. (FYI: That’s Hummer Owners Groups vs. Prius Owners Groups.)

On the nation’s paved and social highways, the two vehicles embody starkly different views of patriotism, opulence, personal freedom, ingenuity, lifestyle and — say both sets of owners — misunderstandings.

Take the anti-Hummer crowd, which includes environmental groups, left-leaners and mischief-makers, who denounce the vehicle as a symbol of decadent wealth and waste.

“They don’t know us,” said Joseph Contini, who runs Hakuna Matata Tanning Salon in Solvay, N.Y., and loves his 2005 H2. “That’s the biggest problem. They don’t know us.”

Then there are the anti-Prius legions.

They include Rush Limbaugh, who once called Prius owners “phonies.” Web sites such as ihatetheprius.com rail about political correctness and pretentious Hollywood celebrities.

To some, the hybrid symbolizes smugness.

“All I can say is if anybody knows me, they won’t think that,” said Lois Bolton, 69, of Liverpool, N.Y., who loves her 2004 Prius.

The notion of cars as socio-political icons goes back decades, says automotive historian Walter Miller.

In the 1960s, the Cadillac embodied wealth and conservatism, while the Volkswagen mini-bus became the hippie van of choice.

In the 1980s, as U.S. car plants began closing, a cultural divide grew between people driving American-made cars and Japanese imports.

Miller said the Hummer and the Prius could be future museum exhibits. The Hummer will fall to high gas prices, the Prius to technological advances.

Hummer draws attention

Which will be most remembered?

“Probably the Hummer, assuming that we don’t ever go back to $10 a barrel gas,” Miller said. “It’ll be just like the ridiculous big fins of the 1950s that people kind of laugh at now.

“It’ll be, ‘Those foolish Americans, look what they did!’”

Over the past 12 months, Hummer sales have plummeted 59 percent, despite a slimmed-down H3 model that gets better mileage than a few SUVs. General Motors might sell the Hummer line.

But Priuses are in such demand Toyota upped their price last spring and still has a waiting list. The Prius gets 48 mpg in city driving.

As Hummers grow rare and Priuses common, their enemies likely will move on.

Congress in 2003 closed a Hummer tax loophole that infuriated the anti-Hummer crowd.

Since 2005, the tax breaks have gone to the Prius, with other incentives.

No motorists endure more hairy eyeballs than those in the Hummer. Some develop a stock answer to critics.

“I’m 75 years old, and I didn’t get my first car until I was 55,” said Nancy Rifken of Fayetteville, N.Y. “As far as I’m concerned, I have about 30 years of gas coming to me. … I never had a chance to use up my portion.”

At 5 feet tall, Rifken said she enjoys being able to see the road in her H2.

“When I get out, what I usually find are guys laughing at me,” she said.

Buying an experience

Many owners view their Hummer as more than a car.

“Some people spend their money on a boat, or an ATV, or on a camp,” Contini said. “Our thing is the Hummer and, believe me, it’s a lot of fun.”

Last January, he and his wife Kris bought a used H2 for about $32,000. It had just 13,000 miles on the odometer. They travel to off-road trail parks, where they drive a style called “treading lightly,” no easy feat in a 6,614-pound beast.

Their Hummer club attended a Hummer jamboree this summer in central Pennsylvania. Its members plunged through mud holes, rolled down hills and up huge boulders, boldly going where no Jeep can go.

They went places they couldn’t go — having to pull each other out.

“There’s nothing like it when the water is coming right over the top of the hood of the Hummer,” Contini said. “It’s amazing the power that these things have.”

But with $4-a-gallon gas, one owner brought his H1 to the Pennsylvania jamboree on a trailer, rather than drive it.

Meanwhile, the TV show “South Park” has skewered Prius owners for contributing dangerous levels of “smug” to the environment. The car has relentless critics online.

Wert said the Prius’ popularity stems from what has always sold cars: image.

“You’re not saving the environment by driving a Toyota Prius,” Wert said. “There is an internal combustion engine under the hood, just like there is one under the hood of a Hummer.

“The question is, is one car really morally superior? I don’t really know the answer. But I do know that if you talk to strong proponents of mass transit, or of really green living, they’ll tell you that it’s just a way to make people feel like they’re doing something for the environment.”

And then there is the secret dream of Hummer owners: The mini-tank that gets 50 miles to the gallon, the cross between the Hummer and the Prius.

A Hummus, anyone?

It would certainly get their attention in the Middle East.