GM's Hummer Brand To Be Sold To a Chinese Company 429
An anonymous reader writes in to note that GM will sell its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. of China, a little-known industrial firm. For now, the deal will save 3,000 jobs in the US. (The military HumVees are made by a separate company and are not involved in this deal.) "As part of the deal, some GM plants will continue to build the Hummer brand for the new owner, at least for awhile. The company said its Shreveport, La., plant will keep building Hummers for the new owner until at least 2010. ... GM said it sold 5,013 Hummers worldwide in the first quarter, down 62% from the 13,050 that it sold in the same period the prior year." AP coverage has more details on GM's planned divestitures, including the shedding of Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:5, Informative)
Military Humvees are made by AM General, who sold the rights to the civilian versions back in 99 to GM I believe. This won't affect the military production lines in Indiana.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:5, Informative)
From what I'm told, AM General [amgeneral.com] makes the HumVee, which for the original Hummer, was sold to GM as-is (well, a stripped down version anyhow). GM then painted them, added luxuries and such and then sold them to the public. That's why the H2 and H3 were so different compared to the original H1 - GM does not own the design of the H1 at all - they merely resold the hardware after some modifications. The H2 and H3 were original GM designs.
So no, the Chinese are not getting military information out of it, other than perhaps how to add leather seats and cupholders to an existing H1.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:2, Informative)
The military (humvee) units are manufactured by AM General in Indiana. They sold the brand name to GM, who's now reselling it. The vehicles are built in Louisiana (?) (for the US) and South Africa (worldwide exports). Those plants will continue manufacturing them for at least another year. Maybe not the US one... I think most people who would buy a hummer would refuse to buy a chi-com hummer.
Anyhow, it's basically a name and a grill design.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:3, Informative)
The Hummer H2 is a Chevy Tahoe with a lift, air lockers, and a nominal performance increase. The Hummer H3 is a newer, more lightweight vehicle, purpose-built or perhaps based on some other SUV, I'm not sure.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:4, Informative)
Don't forget the other modifications from the Tahoe. You know, the extra weight, woeful aerodynamics and awful use of interior space. It's kind of like an inverse-Tardis, it's smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside.
Re:5,013? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:4, Informative)
The H1 was built by AM General, who makes the military HMMWV on which the H1 is based. Of the current models, the H2 is built by AM General under contract from GM (its a GM design, based on the same platform as the Yukon and Tahoe) in Indiana. The H3 (based on a different GM platform) is built in Louisiana and South Africa as you describe.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:5, Informative)
The H2 and H2 are HMMV-styled bodies on standard GMC truck frames and running gear.
Re:They want the tech (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not sure what they want, but they are getting the tech, the brand, the manufacturing plant and let's not forget the distribution network.
The buyer, Sichuan Tengzhong, looks like an interesting company. They manufacture heavy equipment, special-use vehicles, highway & bridge structural components, construction machinery and energy facilities. That's a varied mix, but I don't see passenger autos in there. They've been in business since 2005. They are a private company; I'm not sure where they get their funding or their origins.
http://www.mahalo.com/Sichuan_Tengzhong#guide_note-Official-1 [mahalo.com]
Mil version H1 is good (Score:2, Informative)
There is irony that a Chinese company now owns the brand, but I am not going to back that up with how.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:2, Informative)
HMMWV, actually. High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
Re:5,013? (Score:4, Informative)
Here in Mexico City, driving a Hummer is considered an admission of being a drug-dealer or a politician (or both, if you know what I mean...)
Re:5,013? (Score:4, Informative)
A company close to where I work will rent you a stretched version, a bit like a limo.
The company that imported them into the UK has apparently stopped doing it, after one *fell apart* going over a bump. The normal chassis is barely up to the job, and splicing in an extra metre doesn't help.
Re:So, who makes HumVees? (Score:5, Informative)
H2 = GMC Jimmy AKA Chevy Tahoe chassis
H3 = GMC Envoy AKA Chevy Trailblazer chassis
Re:Heads aspode (Score:5, Informative)
Ya well people just want something to be stupid and patriotic about I guess. With the multi-national nature of the world these days, it gets rather silly to identify a company as a given nationality anyhow. Like Intel for example. It is an American company in that it is headquartered in the US and started there. Ok, but that isn't the only place its operations are. You can very well buy an Intel chip that was designed in the US, fabricated in Ireland, packaged in Costa Rica, and then sold in Canada. They've got various parts of their operation all over. While most of their fabs are in the US (one is in Ireland, two in Israel, 12 in the US) all their packaging and testing centres are outside the US. Likewise their R&D are in the US, but also Israel, China, Korea, Russia and so on.
So is Intel really an "American" company? They really seem more global.
They are not alone in this. That's how many major companies work. As you noted, the Japanese car makers are heavily producing in America these days. Makes a lot of sense, there are skilled workers, lots of land, good natural resources and a large consumer base. Why spend the money shipping the things over from Japan is they are mostly sold in the US? For that matter, some lines are completely produces in the US, even the ones sold in Japan.
While I understand the desire to protect American jobs, that doesn't mean the company has to be headquarted in America. There are American companies that produce nothing in the US, and their are foreign companies that produce lots in the US. Really they are all global companies and their country of origin is largely incidental.
Re:EV-1 (Score:1, Informative)
GM ex-President Rick Wagoner says that killing off the EV1 was his worst mistake. Not only did they stop making the cars, but they canceled the entire program.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-31-gm-mistakes-bankruptcy_N.htm
Re:Yay (Score:2, Informative)
when China becomes the new superpower
As an American, I think that the rest of the world deserves to have that happen.
Re:Yay (Score:4, Informative)
Before reading your comment, I didn't really know anything about the lend-lease act. It was one of those terms I had heard, but didn't know the specifics of. Your comment prompted me to do some reading (wikipedia). And I think I can say that without a doubt you don't know what you're talking about (assuming the information on Lend-Lease [wikipedia.org] is accurate at the time I read it).
From the article:
And further:
So, technically the lend-lease act was not in any way any sort of drain on British coffers (quite the reverse actually). Now, after the war the "... Anglo-American loan came about. Lend-lease items retained were sold to Britain at the knockdown price of about 10 cents on the dollar giving an initial value of £1,075 million. Payment was to be stretched out over 50 years at 2% interest." That hardly sounds like any sort of drain to me... I'd love to get a million dollar home for $100,000 and then only have to pay it back at 2% over 50 years. And in fact, at least one member of the House of Lords agrees with me (emphasis mine):
Wrong (Score:1, Informative)
Range Rover and Jaguar were bought by Tata Motors, an Indian company.
Re:Yay (Score:5, Informative)
Lend-lease during WWII was free for the British.
Postwar reconstruction, however, was not. [bbc.co.uk]
Britain was nearly bankrupt for the next decade -- there was still rationing five years after the war. And the US made out extremely well -- the British even had to devalue their currency while they were borrowing money. They were less able to invest in infrastructure than the French and Germans, and the long term consequences for British industry (the world's most advanced from about 1850-1930) were severe.
The point stands -- international lending can be quite powerful.
Re:5,013? (Score:3, Informative)
Civilian versions are nothing like that, since they're based off completely different chassis.
h2 and h3, yes. the "h1", which was just "hummer" prior to the introduction of the 2 and 3, is pretty much a real humvee minus the .50-cal that goes in the middle. i imagine it'd make an awesome off-roader, though i've never bothered looking up any stats.
Re:An excellent company name (Score:4, Informative)
Because they aren't?
The original Hummer, HMMWV, is still produced by AM General. GM never produced Humvees for the military. The H1 version of the Hummer was produced by AM General as well, but marketed by GM, and was based off the Humvee design. The H2 and H3 were basically a Suburban chassis with an body that bastardized the HMMWV body design.
At least the H2 shares some similarities with the H1 model. The H3 model is just trash.
Re:Yay (Score:3, Informative)
Put a 1955 Corvette next to any Corvette since 2000 to see what I mean. Remember, that '55 Vette cost about $2800 so you didn't have to be a partner in a law firm or a crooked derivatives trader to afford one.
Brilliant logic there, Holmes.
That $2800 in 1955 would have been a year's wages for a person with a good job, considering that minimum wage in 1955 was $0.75 an hour....
0.75 X 8hr/day X 5days/week = $30 / week, before tax.
It would take a minimum wage person in 1955 just under two years to be able to afford a Corvette, if they needed no money for _anything_ else, and paid no taxes.
MSRP for the base 2009 Corvette is $48,565. Current minimum wage is $7.25.
Same calculations:
7.25X8X5 = $290/week
Now, it would take someone on minimum wage slightly over 3 years to be able to afford a Corvette. Not exactly a huge jump. And not so much a problem with the price of the car, as it is that minimum wage has not kept up to the cost of living. A person living on minimum wage now is much worse off than somebody living on minimum wage in 1955, across the board. Food, rent, transportation, entertainment....they call cost a significant portion more than in 1955, relative to minimum wage.
Suddenly that $2800 Corvette's not looking so cheap, is it?
England == UK (Score:3, Informative)
Quibble: it was the UK, not England
Outside the UK, mostly everyone calls the UK, England.
Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales might as well not exist.