Hummer to start working on the H4 and an even smaller H5
As the deal for General Motors Co. to sell Hummer to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd. is being finalized, CEO Jim Taylor is working to have everything in place before Dec. 1. That’s the date that he is hoping GM would be able to close a deal for Hummer. Taylor’s efforts could only be described as Herculean since he has 340 items on his list. Taylor informed Automotive News what he had on his plate. First, he has to kick-start Hummer sales, a majority of which is in the US. Continued after the jump!
He must then make plans for its future products, determine which facilities to build them in, and choose which powertrains to use. Taylor must also do what he can to meet federal fuel economy rules. At the moment, Taylor is waiting for the US and Chinese governments to agree to the sale. There’s certainly no guarantee that both countries would approve the deal.
Taylor expects that the decision on whether to approve the sale would come four to six weeks from now but it’s possible that it would take longer. Hummer’s dealers are anxious about the negotiations, especially since they’ve heard about GM’s recent halted deal to sell Saturn to Penske Automotive Group. Christopher Leggio, president of Mark Christopher Hummer in Ontario, Calif., sums up the dealers’ sentiments in one statement, “The quicker this closes, the sooner we see a business plan, the happier we’ll be.”
The pending GM-Tengzhong deal also gives Hummer access engineering to the work done by the American manufacturer on the H4 (fist shown at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show as the HX Concept). Taylor added that an even smaller H5 will be in the works.
[via autonews]
Tags: Hummer, hummer h4, hummer h5, hummer news, hummerh4, hummerh5
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