Who bought Hummer?
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd. plans to purchase the Hummer brand from General Motors, the mammoth U.S. auto maker that filed for bankruptcy yesterday.
Hummer is the brand attached to GM’s line of street-legal vehicles based on the HMMWV, or humvee. The abbreviation stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. Many people still call refer to a GM Hummer as a humvee.
About Sichuan Tengzhong
Sichuan Tenzhong is a Chinese company based in Chengdu. There is still at least one other company interested in buying Hummer, but those talks are on hold. Bloomberg.com reports that GM has a “memorandum of understanding” with Sichuan Tengzhong.
Sichuan Tengzhong “is a privately owned maker of special-use vehicles, structural components for highways and bridges, and construction machinery,” according to Bloomberg.
Few details on the deal
The agreement between GM and Sichuan Tengzhong is confidential, so the selling price for the Hummer brand is unknown. In GM’s bankruptcy court documents, CEO Fritz Henderson estimated Hummer’s worth at $500 million.
GM did say in a statement today that the deal will close by the end of third quarter. So if you want to buy an American-made humvee you’d better get some quick cash now.
The Hummer business
Hummer has been a highly recognized brand under the GM umbrella since it bought the brand name from AM General Motors in 1998. AM General motors originally only manufactured humvees for the military, but it started making civilian humvees under the brand name Hummer in 1992.
Since acquiring the Hummer brand, GM has sold the vehicles under that name and used the Hummer trademark on colognes, flashlights, bicycles, shoes, coats, hats, laptops, clothing, CD players and other items.
More sales to come
GM’s post-bankruptcy sale of Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong is only the first in a long line of sales that will go through during GM’s massive restructuring. According to Bloomberg:
GM won approval in its first day in bankruptcy court to sell assets as soon as next month after collapsing under $172.8 billion in debt and failing to adapt to consumer demands for models that use less fuel. It also expects to shed Saturn and Saab as part of its restructuring.
Background on Saturn
Saturn Corporation was established as a subsidiary of GM in 1985. Though GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said in December that 2011 was the end of the “planned lifecycle for all Saturn products,” GM announced at the end of April that it is seeking a buyer for Saturn. According to Wikipedia, if GM does not find a buyer:
it is GM’s intention to phase out the Saturn brand at the end of the current product lifecycle. If the brand were to be phased out, it would be the third such action for GM in the 21st century, following those of Oldsmobile, which ceased production in 2004, and Pontiac, which will cease production by the end of the 2010 model year.
Saab story
The Swedish car manufacturing company Saab is currently a fully owned subsidiary of GM, although restructuring started in February. When the restructuring began, the intent was to set up Saab to be in the position of becoming an autonomous company.
At the time the Saab reorganization began, three main potential buyers were identified: Koenigsegg, Fiat and Renco Group.
