G.M. to Close Hummer After Sale Collapses

NYTimes ^ | February 24, 2010 | NICK BUNKLEY

[Steelfish]

G.M. to Close Hummer After Sale Collapses

NICK BUNKLEY February 24, 2010 DETROIT — Hummer, the brand of big sport-utility vehicles that became synonymous with the term “gas guzzler,” is being shut down after a deal to sell it to a Chinese manufacturer fell apart, General Motors said Wednesday.

G.M. said only that its planned sale of Hummer to the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Company “cannot be completed,” without giving a reason, but the $150 million deal had been stalled as the companies awaited approval from the Chinese government. G.M. had been trying to sell Hummer for a year, and struck a preliminary deal with Tengzhong last June.

The two companies had planned to close the deal by the end of January, then delayed the deadline by a month in the hopes of getting the green light from China.

“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," John Smith, G.M.’s vice president of corporate planning and alliances, said in a statement. "G.M. will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."

It was the third time since G.M. emerged from bankruptcy protection last year that a deal to sell one of its unwanted brands collapsed. The company is shutting down Saturn after a sale fell through, and it began to halt operations at Saab after an agreement with Koenigsegg AB in Sweden was called off. G.M. later reached an agreement with a Dutch company, Spyker Cars; that deal closed Tuesday.

G.M. also is closing Pontiac but it never attempted to sell that brand.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Hummer is a classic example of what is wrong with this country and liberals in general.

Hummer started out as a fantastic and awesomely cool idea - civilian version of military vehicle. Big, bad, bulky, mean.

Hummer was eventually commercialized, using jeep parts, dumbed down, flashed up, and became a horrifically overprices, gay looking, cheaply built pile of crap.

Good riddance. I hate liberals.

[Paradox]

The Market does what a decade of screaming liberals couldn’t..

[Blood of Tyrants]

Hell, they could sell hundreds of thousands of them if they would pattern them after the HMMWV with a powerful diesel engine instead of making them huge, ugly luxury vehicles.

[bicyclerepair]

Honestly, do we really need these beheamoths on our roads? I won’t miss this stupid beast.

[almost done by half]

Boy these car huckers can’t close one deal to sell a product line. Did they forget to take their drivers licenses and lock the doors? ;-)

[almost done by half]

Boy these car (hucksters) can’t close one deal to sell a product line. Did they forget to take their drivers licenses and lock the doors? ;-)

opps!

[Little Pig]

They did originally start by selling the H1 (civilian HMMWV), and it was available stripped down as a real work machine. Sales were abysmal, because even stripped down, the truck is highly specialized, and cost well over $60,000. Hummer only took off when they started selling the slightly cheaper H2, which is a ruggedized Tahoe with a better body.

[Sir Gawain]

Obama can’t twist Chinese arms.

[Red Badger]

Surely somebody with a spare $150M will buy it!........................

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yep. I hate the H2 and H3. Huge, ugly, pimpmobiles. Couldn’t drive through a muddy yard without getting stuck. Make it more like the military version with the offset axles to give great ground clearance.

[sam_paine]

using jeep parts,

This snip tells us you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Got to be able to make them cheaper than $60k.

[Frantzie]

Another company killed by the UAW and Pelosi/Reid 2006 Congress and their NO Energy Policy.

Also tahnk stinking Juan McCain for McCain-Feingold which gave use 2006 Dem Congres and Obama.

[TSgt]

My friend has a H2.

Egregiously underpowered and uncomfortable...

[bikerman]

Honestly, do we really need these beheamoths on our roads? I won’t miss this stupid beast.

Wife wont let you have one huh.

[rsobin]

The H2 is a pos. Way too heavy. A friend tried to back a 4k pound boat and trailer up a modest grade , it wouldn’t do it . He had to use 4 wheel low.He averaged 10 mpg.

[bikerman]

Honestly, do we really need these beheamoths on our roads? I won’t miss this stupid beast.

Wife wont let you have one huh.

[DemforBush]

I remember when the Hummer became the prop of choice for rap and hip-hop videos a few years back. You couldn't make a video, it seemed, without having at least one tricked-out Hummer as a symbol of conspicuous consumption. Got real annoying, really fast.

Fortunately, I have a back up plan to meet my off-road needs:

[SJSAMPLE]

What does need have to do with it?

Let consumers make their own choices.