HUMMER sale hits the ditch
Published on Thursday, February 25, 2010
General Motors has announced that Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd. is unable to complete the acquisition of HUMMER that began almost a year ago.
Consequently, GM will begin the orderly wind-down of the HUMMER operations.
This announcement comes hot on the heels of GM closing a deal to sell Saab to Spyker (see accompanying article). An earlier deal to sell the Swedish automaker to Koenigsegg had gone awry and GM began wind-down proceedings on Saab, but Spyker came back with a series of offers that eventually paid off.
There is no apparent Spyker on the current horizon to rescue HUMMER, however.
“One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest HUMMER, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward,” said John Smith GM vice-president of corporate planning and alliances. “We have since considered a number of possibilities for HUMMER along the way and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed. GM will now work closely with HUMMER employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."
GM will continue to honour HUMMER warranties, while providing service support and spare parts to current HUMMER owners around the world.
Source : Gerry Malloy – Canadian Auto Dealer