Hummer Deal Will Make Beijing Crazy

GM offloads brand to Chinese heavy-equipment maker

(NEWSER) - General Motors has finalized a deal to sell its iconic Hummer brand to Chinese heavy-equipment maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. The deal will save 150 Hummer dealerships and 3,000 American jobs, execs say. The vehicles will be assembled at GM plants in the US until 2011 under the deal, and the Chinese firm has signaled it plans to continue manufacturing in the US afterwards. More»

Country KOs GM deal with manufacturer over environmental worries

(NEWSER) - Beijing will halt GM’s sale of the Hummer brand to a Chinese machinery firm over pollution concerns, according to Chinese state radio. The purchase would run counter to the government’s goal of reducing pollution caused by manufacturing, the BBC reports. The Chinese firm shrugged off the report. “The fact that it is from an article from a state media organization does not mean it is government policy,” the company said in a statement. More»

Company aims to become carmaker

(NEWSER) - After General Motors announced a plan to sell the brand, the identity of Hummer’s buyer has emerged: It’s a Chinese machinery firm that aims to become an automaker, an insider tells the New York Times. GM’s deal with the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company was subject to Beijing’s scrutiny. The firm builds road equipment but has lately been working on trucks. More»

(NEWSER) - Many Republicans won’t touch fuel economy issues, but not Sen. Orrin Hatch. He’s been an advocate for alternative-fuel vehicles for a decade, and yesterday got behind the wheel of the most muscular hybrid ever, reports Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. A company from Hatch’s native Utah has created a plug-in Hummer that gets 100 mpg. Just two problems: General Motors is jettisoning the Hummer brand, and Hatch apparently can’t drive. More»

Move could pose dilemma for Treasury

(NEWSER) - China’s SAIC Motor Corp. is considering making a big grab for GM shares when the government sells off its stake in the company, creating a potential political dilemma for the Treasury, the Wall Street Journal reports. GM is set to go public again in November, and the government, which owns 61% of the company, has promised that no single investor or group of investors will get “a disproportionate share or unusual treatment.” More»