Hummer going to China

[GeneW]

General Motors Corp. has a tentative agreement to sell its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. of China, the company confirmed today.

GM announced Tuesday that it has a memorandum of understanding to sell the brand of rugged SUVs to the Chinese corporation. Sichuan Tengzhong deals in road construction, plastics, resins and other industrial products, but Hummer would be its first step into the consumer automotive business.

General Motors has not yet confirmed the the price being paid for it's SUV-only division, but said the sale will likely save more than 3,000 U.S. jobs in manufacturing, engineering and at various Hummer dealerships.

Critics had seized on the rugged but fuel-inefficient Hummer as a symbol of excess as GM's financial troubles grew and gas prices rose. Sales at Hummer, which is known for hulking sport utility vehicles like the H3, have been in a steep slide since gasoline prices rose to record heights last summer. For the first four months of this year, Hummer sales are down 67 percent.

GM and other automakers will report May auto sales later Tuesday.

A sale of the Hummer brand had been expected. Chief Executive Fritz Henderson had said in April that the automaker was expecting final bids from three potential buyers within the month.

Other terms of the transaction, which is currently tied to a memorandum of understanding, were not disclosed.

Click here for more on this story from FOX Car Report.

Sichuan Tengzhong is planning to "aggressively" finance Hummer's future product programs, according to GM.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

If the last sentence is true.... well, so much for Hummers not being profitable.

Gene