Hummer Guy Hummer News and Opinion from an experienced off-road instructor
As expected, General Motors announced Tuesday morning that it has reached a preliminary agreement with an unnamed buyer for the HUMMER brand and has entered into a memorandum of understanding with that investor.
It’s estimated that a successful sale of HUMMER could save more than 3,000 U.S. Jobs in engineering, manufacturing, and dealerships. Under the terms of the agreement, the investor is agreeing to “aggressively fund future HUMMER product programs.”
“GM has developed HUMMER into a globally recognized off-road brand,” said James Taylor, HUMMER chief executive officer. “The proposed agreement will enable us to continue that growth and maximize the brand’s potential through new, innovative off-road vehicles with improved efficiency and alternative fuel powertrains. Today’s announcement is great news for HUMMER’s current and future customers, dealers, suppliers and employees around the globe.”
During the transition, the investor will contract manufacturing of HUMMER vehicles to General Motors, which operates the H3 and H3T plant in Shreveport, LA and remains under contract with AM General for HUMMER H2 production.
“HUMMER is a strong brand,” said Troy Clarke, President of GM North America. “I’m confident that HUMMER will thrive globally under its new ownership. And for GM, this sale continues to accelerate the reinvention of GM into a leaner, more focused, and more cost-competitive automaker.”
When more details break about who the investor is, we’ll be sure to bring you the news. Stay tuned.
Interesting sidenote: Citi is acting as financial advisor to GM on the sale of HUMMER, and yesterday, GM and Citi were both removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. GM had been in the group of 30 Dow stocks since 1925, and Citi since 1997. Replacing the two in trading on June 8th will be Cisco and Travelers.
