#30 Want a Chinese Hummer?
General Motors (GM) has confirmed today that it would sell its Hummer brand to a joint venture between Chinese Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery and the Chinese Entrepreneur Suolang Duoji. It is clear why the Chinese would want the brand, but the question remains, does the world want a Chinese Hummer? True, under the current agreement, GM will continue to make Hummers for the new owners in the United States for another two years. But who can give such assurances in times like these? And even if the assurances hole, what will happen after two years? Will the Hummers be built in China? And how is the world going to react to a brand that long stood for America’s might and now is manufactured in China?
November 26, 2012 @ 3:07 am
This was a very interesting investment for an international firm. Now in 2012, we saw that the deal with Chinese Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery and the Chinese Entrepreneur Suolang Duoji did not end up happening. The question still remains would a Chinese made hummer have worldwide appeal, and what changes could have been made to make the hummer lineup survive.
I believe that the hummer vehicle lineup may have had some success in niche individual markets as well as in industrial government and military applications. The Hummer H1 widely used by the US Military could have been revived and seen international success. The H1 is an unnecessarily large, inefficient, and slow consumer automobile, but could have been updated. I believe that industrial application would have used the Hummer with an updated diesel engine that would provide increased speed and efficiency. Though Hummer would have no longer been an American brand, I feel that with the appropriate steps, could have retained its reputation. Chinese Mobile Crane manufacturer Sany for example has built a worldwide name as a crane manufacturer. The key to their success has been to use American parts such as engines, transmissions, and steel. By imitating these steps and building the H1 with Caterpillar engines, and Allison transmissions and keeping plants in America, I feel a Chinese firm could have seen some long term success.
For the rest of the vehicle line up, there would need to be a significant overhaul. The H2 and H3 were actually Chevrolet SUVs with hummer bodies on them. With questionable styling and limited functionality, they were unsuccessful. I believe that these models would have to be either completely redesigned or simply shut down. To have mass American appeal they would either need to be much more functional as trucks, or much more cost effective and efficient as commuter vehicles.