Latter-day warriors take to the steppes in their Hummers

On a recent drizzly day in Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital, Terbish Bolor-Erdene became de facto grand master in an unlikely parade.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur led a procession of shiny new Hummers through the Mongolian capital, pausing briefly at the city's central square before rumbling out to the vast steppes of this north Asian country.

As president of Mongolia's Hummer Club, Bolor-Erdene is in the vanguard of an army of young Mongolians leaping into this country's capitalist free-for-all and taking to its rough highways in flashy off-roaders.

Like many self-made Mongolian businessmen his career had modest beginnings - in Bolor-Erdene's case, importing one vehicle at a time from the United States. His business grew to including car servicing, spare parts, and detailing. Although he studied government management at university the lure of owning his own business proved too much and he launched the Hummer Club in 2007.

Bolor-Erdene says there are around 300 Hummers in Ulan Bator, a quarter of them sold through his dealership. These outsized, US-built vehicles navigate the city's potholed roads amid a crush of other SUVs, including Land Cruisers, Lexus 480s, Ford Expeditions, and Land Rovers.

'Mongolians love these cars because they are big and strong, like the Mongolian people themselves,' says Bolor-Erdene from the behind the wheel of his own Hummer H2, a custom-built orange behemoth.