# GM unloads Hummer brand, has it sold to Chinese company



## CougarKing (2 Jun 2009)

Thoughts, anyone?



> GM unloads Hummer to Chinese buyer
> 
> Bankrupt automaker discloses details of plan to sell truck line to China's industrial company Sichuan Tengzhong.
> 
> ...


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## Antoine (3 Jun 2009)

Fair enough if GM is selling truck lines, it is sad but it seems that it is how our economic system is run.

However, I doubt that it is a guarantee to keep the factories in the original country (USA in this case).

China is becoming a worldwide leader, who would have thought that from a communist country. 

I understand that money can blind people for a while, but don't forget, we are not dealing with a democratic country. I mean China, not USA


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## Fishbone Jones (3 Jun 2009)

This not ground shaking or earth shattering.

_"China Overview
The General Motors-China relationship dates back more than eight decades. GM’s mission in China is to leverage the company’s extensive global resources to provide transportation products and services that deliver the best combination of technology and customer care innovation.

GM operates seven joint ventures and two wholly owned foreign enterprises and has more than 20,000 employees in China. GM, along with its joint ventures, offers the broadest lineup of vehicles and brands among foreign automakers in China. Products are sold under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Opel, Saab and Wuling nameplates. In 2006, GM’ s sales rose 31.8 percent on an annual basis to a record 876,747 units. GM ended 2006 as the sales leader among global automakers in China.  In addition, Shanghai GM was the sales leader in passenger cars (413,367 units) and SAIC-GM-Wuling was the sales leader in the mini-vehicle segment (460,155 units)."_

More here: http://www.gm.com/corporate/about/global_operations/asia_pacific/chin.jsp


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## Antoine (3 Jun 2009)

I have read similar reports. For example, in a journal was written that middle class Chinese are planning to buy houses made in wood and it is good for our industry. OK, I agree on the business side, but on the political side: there is a middle class in China because it works for the government not because it is free market, or any freedom of choices, exception of Hong Kong.

Shanghai GM is a sale leader in passenger car in China? thanks to the Chinese government and people in power in their surrounding.

So my point: Some business peoples from our democratic countries are trying to sell us the idea that we are doing business as usual with a friendly country (China), so we can sleep during the night, cold war is over. Works for them and us, for now.

It is hard to know exactly what is going on in China and what is their plan. I don't suggest boycotting them as we did with Cuba, but being concerned with China's growing power as a communist and non democratic country is fair.

However, that is my  :2c: and I probably oversimplify the situation, it is just a gut feeling. I hope that the Chinese population will sooner or later fire the communist government and shift to a democratic system.


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## Antoine (3 Jun 2009)

By the way, an interesting book in that matter is:

Velasquez M.G. Business Ethics: Concepts and cases, 6th ed, NJ: Pearson Education, Prentice Hall, 2006.


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## Fishbone Jones (3 Jun 2009)

Rhetorical question: How are you going to boycott them when they own so much industry and real estate in our own country?


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## Antoine (3 Jun 2009)

Exactely, boycott will not work with China, I agree.

The fact that they own so much is a serious concern if it cost us freedom of speech and action as Canadian or American on our planet. Economic goes with politic, whatever buisness people are trying to make us beleive, and buying is voting, so we made our choice.

However, I believe that by contributing in the economical growth of China with a diplomatic work, we can help the population to shift slowly toward a democratic and healthy country. By doing buisness with them and including them in our global trade, I hope that the population will get richer and more comfortable, they will see the benefit of our system and they will looking for freedom of speech, life and business, we could also help them to reach this goal.  

However, that is just some thought ( :2c: ), how to proceed in details to reach those goals, I don't know.  

Cheers !


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## Michael OLeary (3 Jun 2009)

If we had a plan, there would be expectations that it be completed by the "current administration" (whoever that might be), it would then be changed every time the Government changed, making it worthless for achievement of any long term goals.

If the Chinese have a plan, they probably wrote it 30 years ago, and acquiring North American auto industry brands was on the list somewhere after ensuring that most electronics and clothing manufacturing was moved to Asia.

PROTIP: Learn to use chopsticks for when our new Overlords appear.    >


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## Antoine (3 Jun 2009)

The picture is awesome, it is worth a thousand words. (adage from an old Chinese proverb according to Wikipedia).

I hope my previous posts did not seem to suggest any conspiracy theory or "yellow peril", as it was not my intention.

OK, I stop here because I feel a bit redundant!


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## Xiang (4 Jun 2009)

I'm not sure I understand China's motives behind purchasing this brand.  In an age where big gas guzzling vehicles are sitting in the sales lots at the sale of smaller, more gas efficient vehicles, the age of the Hummer is, in my opinion, coming to an end.

The Hummer brand is considered an aspect of GM's current failure.  They aren't selling.

However, I heard that the Chinese BYD Auto company is currently in R&D on an electric engine for the vehicle.  BYD Auto is leading the world in electric car technology right now.


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## GAP (4 Jun 2009)

I suspect that the Chinese purchase of the Hummer Brand is about status as much as anything else......the up and coming Chinese are as status conscious, if not more so, than any other chest beating wannabe....


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## Antoine (4 Jun 2009)

From my junior R&D emplyee point of view and trying to keep up to date as much as possible in my field, overall, there is not a lot of R&D in China but more C&D which mean: Copy and develop.  ;D

Ask to our CSIS !


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## Xiang (4 Jun 2009)

True.  China's previous knock off of the Hummer, the Dongfeng EQ2050 was a near straight copy, however when it comes to BYD Auto, the company is actually an industry leader when it comes to hybrid/electronic engines.


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## Colin Parkinson (4 Jun 2009)

Gaz was making a copy of the Hummer as well, except they used a decent engine in theirs. I look forward to the driver's manual, should make excellent reading!  ;D


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## CougarKing (25 Feb 2010)

An update:Goodbye Hummer.

Seems the plan to sell Hummer to a Chinese company didn't quite work out.




> *GM to Shut Hummer After Sale Collapses*
> 
> 
> By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU And SHARON TERLEP
> ...




Wall Street Journal link


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## a_majoor (26 Feb 2010)

Hardly a big deal:

1. The AM General design (Military HMMVW) is well past its best before date, and is being replaced by various "MRAP" class vehicles.

2. The H2 and H3 designs were essentially SUV's built from the GM parts bin, and never really great sellers. I suspect most of the parts are now obsolete, and the US market evaporated in 2008 during the great spike in oil prices.

3. People who want big honking trucks still have lots of choices without Hummer.

GM's business strategy seems to have been devised by the US Post Office since effective nationalization. The have closed one of the few profitable divisions (Saturn), fumbled selling Hummer, almost botched the sale of SAAB and have seens a sustained sales decline in their remaining brands. 

Of course the US government is now attacking Toyota (and is it really coincidence the government effectively owns GM or that 31 of the House members "investigating" Toyota have received contributions from the UAW?), which should be the big story. The sooner the Canadian government unloads its 12% share in GM the better.


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## Spencer100 (10 Jan 2020)

As I revive this thread,  GM is reviving the HUMMER!  

As an Electric pickup. 

https://www.autonews.com/cars-concepts/gm-revive-hummer-name-electric-pickups-suvs?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200110&utm_content=article2-headline

I can't wait.  Who wants a Tesla when you can have Hummer!


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