General Motors has approached previous bidders for its Hummer unit after a deal to sell the brand to little known Chinese firm Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery collapsed, a media report said on Friday.
GM has approached companies whose offers last year were turned down in favour of Tengzhong, a source told Reuters.
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At least four Chinese companies were among the firms GM contacted to gauge their interest in recent days, the source said.
Two had expressed interest in buying only part of Hummer’s assets last year, such as tooling and equipment at GM’s Hummer plant in Shreveport, Lousiana, the source said. The other two had made offers for the brand.
GM said on Wednesday it would shut down Hummer after Tengzhong’s US$150m bid to buy the money-losing SUV brand collapsed, reportedly due to opposition from Chinese regulators. GM said it would continue to consider viable offers early in the wind-down process.
Analysts said any Chinese bidder is unlikely to try to take over all of Hummer after the failed Tengzhong bid, but added that some could potentially try to buy some of Hummer’s assets.
“I don’t think any mainstream Chinese automaker will be interested in a brand like Hummer, but I won’t rule out there might be some obscure players like Tengzhong that are interested just because they want to squeeze into the auto industry,” Boni Sa, a China-based analyst with CSM Worldwide, told Reuters.
“Still I am not sure anyone has the guts to challenge Beijing after it just killed the (Tengzhong) deal,” he said.
Sa added that Hummer’s tooling equipment is relatively specialised, making it less attractive for Chinese carmakers than equipment being eyed from other distressed vehicle makers worldwide.
Late last year, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC) paid $200 million for designs of some old Saab models, Reuters noted.
Dutch sportscar maker Spyker this week took over the rest of Saab from GM, including the intellectual property and designs for the recently developed redesigned 9-5 car line.
