GM announces Hummer sale cannot be concluded, brand to be wound down

[Denis]

Although it has been evident for some time that General Motors' sale of its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd., we didn't expect for word to come down today that the negotiations are dead and the brand will be wound down. Unfortunately, judging by a press release just issued by GM, that's exactly what will be happening. According to John Smith, GM's vice president of corporate planning and alliances,

"One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest Hummer, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward. We have since considered a number of possibilities for Hummer along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed."

As we learned from the Saab sale saga, GM announcing that the brand will be wound down does not completely extinguish hope for another buyer to slip in in the 11th hour, but it does seem highly improbable that a new party will pick up where the negotiations with China's Tengzhong left off.

In the statement available after the jump, GM does not specify what killed the planned sale of the brand, but rumors in recent months suggested that the Chinese government was not keen to sign off on the deal. At the moment, it is unclear what will happen to Hummer's H2 and H3/H3T models, but it is likely that the tooling and manufacturing rights will be sold off to other companies. It is also unclear how many employees will be out of work as a result of the closure.

As with the wind-down of its Saturn and Pontiac brands, GM has pledged to honor Hummer warranties and continue to supply service and parts.

Source: AutoBlog

PRESS RELEASE

HUMMER Sale to Tengzhong Cannot be Completed
Wind down of HUMMER business to begin

2010-02-24

DETROIT – General Motors today announced that Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd. (Tengzhong) was unable to complete the acquisition of HUMMER. As a result, GM will begin the orderly wind-down of the HUMMER operations.

"One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest HUMMER, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward. We have since considered a number of possibilities for HUMMER along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed," said John Smith GM vice president of corporate planning and alliances. "GM will now work closely with HUMMER employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."

GM will continue to honor HUMMER warranties, while providing service support and spare parts to current HUMMER owners around the world.

[Dirty Harry]

That sucks, I know that potential new owners were very interested in bringing the H4 to market and expanding the race program.

[GO4X4IT]

So much win!
Bye bye Hummer

[seal13il]

i still remember when we got them in Israel back in 91-92 & we were told that they cant be flipped...oh boy were they wrong, I was officially the first guy to do that...lol...cost me 60 days in base...lol

[Dr Smash]

So much win!
Bye bye Hummer

my condolences to another round of hard working americans that will have to feed their families by working at walmart or micky-d's. not much win for them I couldnt imagine losing my job in a market like this, I am fortunate enough to have Honest hard working people spend what they can afford on the things they like most in life.

[wakeboardwhan]

i was hoping the HX would become a reality some day. the concept of that thing was badass

[Inc]

my condolences to another round of hard working americans that will have to feed their families by working at walmart or micky-d's. not much win for them I couldnt imagine losing my job in a market like this, I am fortunate enough to have Honest hard working people spend what they can afford on the things they like most in life.

X2. I hate Hummers, but stuff like this still sucks for America as a whole.