GM's Hummer Now a Chinese Brand

Hummer will now be owned by Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. The deal between GM and the Chinese company was signed on Friday.

The sale of Hummer is another step in GM’s downsizing after emerging from a government-financed bankruptcy in July. GM had made a deal to sell Saturn, but that deal fell through, and that brand is now apparently dead.

According to the deal, of which financial details were not revealed, GM will continue to build Hummers for Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. at a Louisiana assembly plant for two years. AM General will build an additional Hummer model in Indiana. AM General sold the license for Hummer to GM in 1999.

Meanwhile, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. will take over the franchise agreements with Hummer’s 153 U.S. dealers, as well as with 231 dealers in international markets.

GM has other deals in the fore, and other shutdowns, as well. The company is also shutting down Pontiac, trying to sell Saab, and has agreed to sell a majority stake in Opel to a group led by Magna International, a parts maker, and the Russian bank, Sberbank.