Rejoice GM, somebody wants HUMMER! In fact, AM General, the company that created the original mil-spec HMMWV for American troops back in 1983 is rumored to be in the mix of bidders, joining forces with China's Hunan Changfeng Motor Co. Despite earlier reports, Changfeng has remained interested in the brand since GM first put HUMMER up on the auction block, but had desired a bidding partner. It appears that it found one shortly after touring the automaker's facilities a few months back.
This is an intriguing move, especially since it was AM General that first launched the HUMMER marque in America before selling marketing rights for the brand to General Motors in 1999. Despite the presence of a Chinese partner, rumors indicate that HUMMER would remain an American brand that's marketed predominately towards the United States. It's an interesting footnote, though possibly completely unrelated, that news of HUMMER's impending sale rise and fall in unison with global fuel prices. In any case, this announcement seems to reaffirm GM's stated goal of selling the off-road brand by 2009.
Despite assurances from top GM brass, every bidder for the troubled HUMMER brand appears to be removing itself from the rumormill. Considered one of the strongest suitors interested in the off-road marque, India's Mahindra is the latest brand to pull out of consideration. According to Vice Chairman Anand Mahindra, "There has been a lot of speculation. I want to say categorically we are not pursuing HUMMER." That sounds pretty definitive to us, leaving Tata Motors as the only company from India still reportedly interested. Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has pulled his name out of the mix, as has China's Hunan Changfeng Motor Co. Until an official announcement is made, all of this is just speculation, but we have to wonder just how valuable the HUMMER brand could possibly be now that its sales have plummeted so far and so fast.
