General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner announced just last month that the automaker was planning on selling $4-7 billion worth of assets in order to buoy the company through the current U.S. downturn, and it doesn’t like GM will have too hard of a time reaching that goal.
“Frankly, we are getting some significant interest in our asset sales, including Hummer, but probably it won’t be concluded imminently,” Wagoner told Automotive News. GM has reportedly been in talks with India’s Mahindra & Mahindara about the possible sale of Hummer, as well as automakers from Russia and China.
However, outside of Hummer, it remains unclear exactly what assets GM has earmarked for sale.
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08/14, 5:11 PM
posted by:
acura_el2000
No comments yet.
08/14, 5:29 PM
posted by:
DrFill
Let the Fire Sale begin!
DrFill
08/14, 5:45 PM
posted by:
mazdaman
Getting rid of Hummer would be a good start. The only other division I could see them selling is Saab, which still holds enough of its own distinct brand identity to be viewed as an asset to other auto companies.
I honestly think GM could position itself for longevity and future success if they would streamline their U.S. operations down to 5 or 6 brands: Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Saab (maybe), Buick, and Cadillac. I would combine Chevrolet and GMC to cover the mainstream portion of the market. Chevrolet would carry affordable FWD B-D class cars, affordable FWD/AWD crossovers, the Camaro, the Corvette, and maybe a RWD flagship sedan. GMC would become the corporation’s sole retail truck/SUV division as well as the corporation’s commercial fleet vehicle outlet. Saturn and Pontiac would be folded into Opel and possibly combined with Saab (if it’s not sold) to form a midmarket Euro sourced dealer network. This network would appeal to customers who are generally attracted to imports (although Opel products would be assembled in North America, the advertising would focus on the brand’s Euro origins/style/engineering/driving dynamics and downplay GM’s connection/involvement with the brand). Opel would cover the volume portion of the segment while Saab would cover the luxury portion of the segment. Saab would be the only wildcard in this restructuring project. I am not sure Saab would be needed if GM follows through with its intention of taking Opel upmarket in the future. This would cause Opel to overlap too much with Saab and render Saab totally redundant in GM’s brand hierarchy. Buick and Cadillac would be combined to form a luxury dealer network. Buick would carry FWD luxury cars and FWD/AWD luxury crossovers while Cadillac would focus on well executed RWD luxury cars. This would give GM 6 divisions arranged in 3 dealer networks that target specific portions of the market. This would be a big improvement over the current situation which forces the corporation to waste marketing dollars to target the same market demographics (Chevy, Saturn, and Pontiac) and to spend development money to create competing/overlapping products (too many to mention).
08/14, 6:49 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Let’s see. An Indian, Russian or a Chinese Hummer. Do you want your d*ck to smell like curry, vodka or soy sauce?
08/14, 10:38 PM
posted by:
olds307
^make mine teryaki!
08/15, 12:21 AM
posted by:
maxcar
keep opel, holden, saab, gmc, caddy
sell the rest
08/15, 10:51 AM
posted by:
MercMark
Why sell when the dollar is weak?
Why spend millions on a brand and sell it cheap?
The Chinese already stole the Hummer design and sell it why would they pay GM for it now?