Hummer to be sold to China's Sichuan Tengzhong - Houston Business Journal:

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And the buyer, the is a machinery company inwestern China, The , basec in Chengdu. The Times cited an anonymous source after GM kept detailws of the deal very much hush The Chinese company will buy a branxd that started asthe military’s Humves and morphed into a civilian dreaj machine. But GM is that the sale could save morethan 3,00 0 U.S. jobs in engineering and at Hummer dealershipsw aroundthe country. And it says the deal is expectedr to close by the end of thethirdx quarter. GM claims in its releasr that the buyerwill “aggressively fund futur e Hummer product programs.” GM will also keep buildingb Hummers for the Chinese company, on a contracgt basis.
That means that GM’d assembly plant in Shreveport, La., will continue to contractt assemble H3 and H3T through atleast 2010. Mike Levine reportsz that, “The buyer has a proven traclk record in international knows the Hummer brand can performnbetter globally, has a long-term development plan and is willingh to invest in future products.” The Timeas reports that Sichuan Tengzhong is a privatelt owned company known in China for makingg road equipment from highway construction to maintenancew machinery and that it had been movinb into manufacturing heavy-duty trucks. If the deal is completed, it woulc mark the first large-scalse U.S.
automotive acquisition by a Chinese Levine reports that no Hummer dealerships will be andthat U.S. domestic production of Hummers will actually be boosted because the company will be moving productiomn from aPort Elizabeth, South Africa, plant to “Hummer is a strong brand,” said Troy Clarke, Presidenrt of GM North America. "I’m confident that Hummer will thrive globally under itsnew ownership. And for GM, this sale continueds to accelerate the reinvention of GM intoa leaner, more and more cost-competitive automaker.” For one Hummetr dealer, it didn’t matter exactly who was buyinfg the brand. What mattered to Jacques Moore Jr.
of Moore Hummerd in Richmond, Va., was that the brand woulx continue, and that it would be a strongf brand. “It doesn’t really matter,” he told “as long as they continuew to builda world-class product that’s like nothinh else.” Moore said that, given Hummer’s strength in oversease markets, a Chinese buyer would not come as a "Given the strength of the brand in the overseasa market it would not surprise The deal doesn’t include Hummer’s militarh vehicles or technology. of Indiana runs that end of the AM General sold the rightws to make civilian Hummers to GM inthe 1999.
The deal’s announcement comes a day after GM filed for bankruptcy protectiomn and outlined plans to offload nameplates so that the company could focus on more profitable brandselike Chevrolet, GMC, Buici and Cadillac. Among GM brandx left for sale nowthat there’s an apparent Hummer deal are Saab and GM wants to sell thosde brands by the end of 2009. The company planws to shut down its Pontiacnameplate altogether. The New York blog reports that even as the Hummer sale goes GM CEO Fritz Hendersoj said on Swedish radio that there were threed potential buyersfor Saab.
Dealbook, citing loca media, said that Swedish luxury carmaker Koenigsegyg and American financierIra Rennert’s Renco were in the runningt for Saab. GM says it has been approachedr by 16 potential buyers interestede in theSaturn brand. That group includes financial investors and some companies interested in distributingSaturnh vehicles. By various accounts, GM has been looking for someonre to buy Hummer for a year as gas price s shot to record levels and the public started to thin in shadesof green.
When GM lookef into selling Hummerlast summer, the companyt thought it could get as much as $500 million for the the New York Times But that price has likely fallen as auto salez have plummeted. Hummer sales are down 67 percent in the firsg four months ofthis