GM looks to India, China, Russia to sell its Hummer brand: report

31 July 2008

Mumbai: General Motors, which was earlier rumoured to have been in talks with Tata Motors and  Mahindra & Mahindra for the sale of its Hummer brand of sports utility vehicles, is now looking to Chinese and Russian buyers as well, reports said.

Mahindra, sources said, may not be very interested in buying the GM brand now as it has plans to launch its own small sports utility vehicle in the US market next year, adding, talks with GM are still in initial stages and continuing.

Mahindra had plans to launch its own SUV – the Scorpio – in the US market and had reportedly signed up over 300 dealers to distribute the vehicle.

The high-cost production facilities of GM and its franchises in the more affluent neighborhoods where car shoppers look for luxury brands may also deter Mahindra,   sources pointed out.

The reports said GM is also in talks with Russian and Chinese companies for the sale of Hummer. GM, incidentally, has operations in China and has acquired an old auto plant in Russia to manufacture low-cost vehicles.

Blog reports, meanwhile, said a Chinese company, Changfeng, had signed a contract with Hummer some time back to supply the vehicles' chassis.