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Weak GM sheds last muscle, gives up Hummer to China

By Ward Harkavy in China, Featured, GM, Planes, trains, automobiles
Wednesday, Jun. 3 2009 @ 9:02AM
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In the announcement that GM sold its Hummer division to a Chinese company, happy Tengzhong CEO Yang Yi got it just right, saying that "the Hummer brand is synonymous with adventure, freedom, and exhilaration."

In other words, the opposite of the mood in Detroit.

Both the New York Times and the Times (U.K.) mention that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the guy who persuaded the Humvee's manufacturer to build a civilian version, the rights to which GM bought in 1999.

But the London paper gets the edge here by snarkily describing, in its second graf, the Hummer as "the gas-guzzling brand of sports utility vehicles popularised by Arnold Schwarzenegger before he embraced the environment."

Our hometown paper does say, on down in its story:

Once considered the ultimate muscle car, the Hummer became a symbol of what was wrong with G.M. and the American auto industry -- big, bulky and gas-guzzling. Sales of Hummers fell 51 percent last year, the worst drop in the industry, and are down 67 percent so far in 2009.

But the NYT makes it sound as if the Hummer will continue to be built in the U.S. way into the future. Not true, no matter what President Barack Obama and others say about how this saves American jobs. The question is: For how long? And the London paper answers it:

[Tengzhong] will make Hummers in the United States "during a defined transitional time period", according to a GM statement, saving up to 3,000 jobs at factories and dealerships.

Sources said that one assembly plant was likely to stay open until at least 2012, but the Chinese company, which is owned by a group of private equity investors, is not expected to give any guarantees on its future manufacturing plans.

How will a Chinese company be able to market the militaristic Hummer as a symbol of U.S. patriotism, of our muscle abroad as the world's cop? Hmmm, that could be a problem.

On the other hand, maybe China could just take over our role as the world's cop. It might not save many jobs, but it would save us money and our soldiers' lives.