Hybrid Hummers?
As the news of Hummer’s sale to a widely unknown Chinese maker of cement mixers and bridge pontoons hit the wires, James Taylor was on a plane to Chengdu, China. The city, close to the golden triangle was hitherto more famous for its illicit substances and certain kinds of clubs. Now, it will be Hummer Central. Hummer CEO James Taylor (no relation to Sweet Baby James), went to Chengdu to shake hands with his new employers. They’ll keep him for now.
Taylor will also assure local officials in Chengdu and Deyang, where Tengzhong is building a new base, that China’s hinterlands have made a great leap forward: Tengzhong is the first Chinese car company to have bought themselves an American car company.
Even the usually stodgy state-owned news agency Xinhua can’t help it, and implants their tongue in their officious cheek. Chengdu can use Hummer, says Xinhua, because “statistics from local vehicle management section showed that Hummer vehicles are only owned by about 10 people in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu currently.”
The deal is not a laughing matter.
“We’ve been in talks with these guys for over six months,” Taylor told Automotive News [sub] in an interview. “The reality is in China you have folks that are willing to make investments all over the world and they go on a world search for a business that would be complementary for them.
“They see a lot of growth potential with this brand both inside and outside of China.”
Hummer’s 150 U.S. dealerships will be safe as long the sales goes through, Taylor said.
“This is good news for them,” Taylor said. “Nothing happens to them, and in a good way. They’re saved.”
Taylor is a bit worried about CAFE, and he’s not referring to a lack of Starbucks in Chengdu. There are more than ten of them, even in a place like Chengdu. Taylor rightly worried about the consumption of a fleet consisting solely of Hummers. Hummer’s smallest H3 gets 14 mpg city and 18 mpg highway.
“The immediate challenge is to regain our sales momentum,” Taylor said. “Then we have to go after some product changes that will get us into that space where we are compliant with new federal regulations.”
That will mean some model and powertrain changes, said Taylor. “You’ll see a broader lineup, that means more models and alternative powertrains that meet the federal regulations.” Hybrid Hummers?
Hummer will set up its own engineering shop and provide the marketing for the products worldwide, Taylor said. Where those will be located remains to be seen. In Chengdu it will be not, Taylor wants to work inside the United States. His visit to Chengdu will confirm his conviction.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
Folks, there is nothing secret about a HMMWV. There is no super technology or design features. It's a truck (period). It's value, and what GM paid AM General for and now China to GM is it's image and (for China) the manufacturing/sales base. The image purchased is of the H2 and H3, not the HMMWV - though it would be easy enough to build them to the military specs if you wanted to spend the money for a less roadworthy yet more expensive vehicle. Have no fear, whiff the US has to face down China, they will not be looking down the barrels (so to speak) of their own weapons (HMMWV's). What's to fear is the billion chinamen in Toyota Hilux!
@skor : June 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 pm Thank you, I wasn't sure if that was going to be part of the sale or not, I appreciate you clearing that up for me. I was thinking more of jobs than technology.