Hummer is likely to be sold by the end of this year or early next, a senior General Motors official has said.
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“We are trying to approach this (Hummer sale) on an urgent basis,” chief operating officer Fritz Henderson said during a visit to India to open GM’s second car plant there and launch a new model.
“End of this year is a fair amount of time. It can conceivably happen … but if it takes us to early next year, that is okay, too.”
“We are working quickly. It will be premature to mention something,” Henderson told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that “several” suitors had approached GM, though he declined to name any.
Hummer reportedly has attracted recent interest from two separate investors in the Gulf Arab region.
“For sure, there has been interest from various parties within the Gulf,” General Motors Middle East managing director Terry Johnsson said last week.
Henderson also said he expected the US auto industry to face challenges for some time and sees vehicle sales there falling to 14m vehicles in 2008 from 16m last year.
“It is going to stay challenging for some time,” he said. “Have we found the bottom? I don’t know.”
GM was not just looking at selling brands but also other businesses, but Hummer would be among the first, Henderson was quoted as saying.
He had said on Tuesday the top priority was to turn round the North American business and continue investments in emerging markets such as India and China.
