DETROIT – General Motors is to wind down its iconic but tarnished Hummer brand after Chinese regulators rejected a $150 million (€111 million) bid by an obscure Chinese machinery maker to buy the money-losing SUV line.
GM had been trying to complete the deal by the end of February after reaching a definitive agreement in October to sell Hummer to Tengzhong, a little-known heavy machinery company based in Sichuan province.
The collapse of the deal represents another setback for GM, which had been working to shed unprofitable brands and focus on its four core brands – Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC – after emerging from bankruptcy in July.
Closure of Hummer would put about 3,000 jobs at stake.
A brand that grew out of the military multipurpose vehicle the Humvee, Hummer traded at first on it tough image but became synonymous with gas-guzzling excess when consumers began to be deterred by high petrol prices and aware of a responsibility to the environment. – (Reuters)
