that loud noise you just heard was every freeper's head exploding

[charlie and algernon]

Chinese Company to buy Hummer from GM

NEW YORK - General Motors Corp. took a key step toward its downsizing on Tuesday, striking a tentative deal to sell its Hummer brand to a Chinese manufacturer, while also revealing that it has potential buyers for its Saturn and Saab brands.

GM has an agreement to sell its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. of China, said a person briefed on the deal.

The Detroit automaker announced Tuesday morning that it had a memorandum of understanding to sell the brand of rugged SUVs, but it didn’t identify the buyer. A formal announcement of the buyer was to be made Tuesday afternoon, said the person briefed on the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been made public.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31059625

[Aristus]

1. No loss to us, no real harm to China.

Beijing's air already looks like something you could ladle over Southern biscuits.

[Dogtown]

2. Does this mean

that spare parts for our military vehicles will be supplied by China?

That could be viewed as somewhat impractical.

[charlie and algernon]

3. I would hope that the military had a seperate contract

I mean I know it is quite common for nations to share military supplies, but I can't see the military going along with that deal. Unless GM's CIVILIAN hummer program is the only thing that went under.

[Dogtown]

5. You'd hope, certainly.

I'm sure they could be manufactured under license somewhere, but I have to admit I have scant knowledge of military contract requirements or the processes of selling firms offshore.

Lets hope for the best...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. It doesn't.

It may have a sepArate contract, though.

[Crabby Appleton]

9. The military Humvee is neither manufactured nor owned by GM

A company called AM General (formerly AMC Jeep) owns and manufactures the military M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV - humvee). They used to make a civilian version called the H1 which is no longer made. AM General licensed the name "Hummer" to GM and they make the GM Hummer H2 (a humvee-looking body on a Chevrolet Tahoe (and GMC Yukon) truck chassis, and the H3 a humvee-looking body on a Chevrolet Colorado (and GMC Canyon) truck frame. This license and GM manufacturing facilities are what was sold, not AM General or the military version, which doesn't belong to GM. The GM Hummers are just big SUVs that look like military humvees.

[Dogtown]

10. Cool!

Thanks for the background, I was unaware.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. I hear tell that the Saturn division is being sold to the Osaka Seafood Concern.

That's what the Osaka Seafood Concern's all about.

[ghostsofgiants]

6. Fuck, I was hoping those monstrosities were dead.

[Deja Q]

7. Doesn't Governor Schwarzenegger own the trademark or copyright or whatever?