A Chinese Company Will Buy Hummer (and Maybe Save U.S. Jobs?)

A Hummer modified in China at the 2008 Auto China show in Beijing

Some Americans may not be comfortable with the idea, but China is a force to be reckoned with. And now it might even save about 3,000 American jobs.

General Motors has a tentative agreement with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. of China, which plans to purchase Hummer. If the deal goes through, the new owner of Hummer would contract GM to continue building the Hummer H3 and H3T at their Shreveport, La., plant at least through 2010. 

That move, along with saving dealership jobs, would save thousands of manufacturing jobs. It’s hard to find fault in a sale that benefits newly bankrupt GM and saves American jobs.

Even so, it’s hard to look past the irony of an iconic American military-vehicle-turned-civilian-SUV being owned by a Chinese company. We might as well sell the New York Yankees and our patent on apple pie to the Chinese government, too. 

What I’m having trouble understanding is how Hummer’s new owner intends to make money. Hummer’s sales dropped nearly 70% in the first four months of this year, and I’m not sure Chinese ownership is a change that will lend itself to sales improvements in this country.

Maybe that’s the point, though. GM has had success with Buick in China, and maybe Sichuan Tengzhong plans to do the same with Hummer. If that’s the case, it’s probably only a matter of time before Hummers will be shipped with the words “Made in China” engraved into the sheet metal. 

I guess I should just quit complaining. An Indian company owns Jaguar, and now a Chinese company will likely own Hummer. Maybe it’s time for a U.S. company to buy Kia and complete the circle in this bizzaro new world. 

Will Chinese ownership of Hummer be good for the brand?

-tgriffith

Related posts:

• 2006 L.A. Auto Show: 2007 Kia Rondo
• More His… More Traditional
• Hummer H3T Pickup Will be in Showrooms by Q3 2008
• Scanning the Auto Blogosphere
• Toyota Retains Most New-Car Buyers

Related posts:

• A Tale of Two Schwarzeneggers
• Taking on the Saturn Outlook
• The KickingTires Guide to the L.A. Auto Show
• It's Graverobber Project Car Hell Tirade Friday! [Project Car Hell]
• GM asks Congress to kickstart its heart with ambitious plan

Finally, a truck that gets 100 mpg!

Okay, that 100-mpg number is partly marketing, but still it’s something to get excited about.

Bright Automotive is a mostly unknown car company based in Indiana. Their CEO is the guy who developed the battery pack for GM’s infamous EV1, the first production electric car that some say was prematurely put down.

So Bright is a company with some credibility behind them, and this week they unveiled their IDEA (Yes, it’s called the Bright IDEA. Stop laughing.) on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. 

Here’s the scoop on the IDEA:

• It’s powered by a hybrid electric system and drives for the first 30 miles on pure electricity. After that, an electric/gas engine takes over. For the first 50 miles of driving, the IDEA is said to use half a gallon of gas, the equivalent of 100 mpg.
• Bright hopes the IDEA will be available in 2013 to commercial customers. It will not be offered as a consumer vehicle.
•  Bright says they will create about 5,000 jobs when they begin producing 50,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2012.

I think marketing the IDEA for commercial uses is absolutely brilliant. Imagine all the delivery trucks in America that are getting 9 miles per gallon. Replace them with a van like the IDEA and *boom*, global warming is solved.

Okay, that might be a bit too high an expectation for the IDEA, but it’s a step in the right direction and another example of how the world’s auto industry will evolve in the coming years.

Do you think Bright has a great IDEA, or will it turn out to be nothing more than hype?

-tgriffith

Related posts:

• Scanning the Auto Blogosphere
• Bikes, Studes, big trucks – good night at the cruise-in
• All-New GMC Acadia Pricing Announced

Related posts:

• Koenigsegg CCXR Going on Production
• 2009 Detroit Auto Show preview
• [Video] The Smoking SVT Cobra
• A Car Industry Revolution in the Making
• Guinness World Record for Largest Parade of Ferraris