On the heels of our last blog contemplating the what ifs surrounding the Hummer brand and diesel powertrains, news today of Hummer’s sale to a Chinese company sways that way.
GM announced this moning that it has signed a deal to sell the Hummer brand to a Chinese equipment manufacturer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., of Sichuan province. While many of the terms of the sale are now out yet, the deal will have the Hummer brand living through 2010 in its current form with production of vehicles to continue in US plants for a period of time.
Hummer CEO Jim Taylor did speak today sharing that the new owners are planning to invest heavily in the brand to take it global as well as help it flourish in the States. “The brand lives another day,” Taylor told Automotive News in an interview. “The reality is in China you have folks that are willing to make investments all over the world and they go on a world search for a business that would be complementary for them.”
He stated emphatically that Hummer’s survival in the States will mean alternative powertrains. With the new CAFE standards and Hummer being a stand-alone brand, the vehicles will have to meet those new standards head on. Hummer vehicles can no longer be blended in with the GM fleet for mpg.
“We [will] have to go after some product changes that will get us into that space where we are compliant with new federal regulations, ” said Taylor. “You’ll see a broader lineup, that means more models and alternative powertrains that meet the federal regulations.”
This means diesel power, smaller engines, and perhaps even some new smaller lighter off-road models akin to the Jeep Wrangler. These are all welcome developments surely for some of the brand’s eco-haters. But at the same time the Hummer rank-in-file customers might not be demographically inclined to get into a Chinese Hummer. Time will tell.
