Radio Australia Today Editorial

Hummer bites the dust

25 February 2010

We had some breaking news this morning that the Hummer brand of cars is to be no more.

General Motors in the U.S. says that its negotiations with a Chinese company to buy Hummer have failed. GM had been dealing with China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co to sell the company.

The statement from GM left little doubt what this meant for Hummer’s staff. “GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner.”

Unemployment, in other words. Orderly, responsible, but still unemployed.

We spoke with John Monk of the US firm Autopolis. He has more than 20 years in the auto business, including in China. He says he’s certain the negotiations failed because Hummer would not be a brand that the Chinese government would be pleased to see on its shores. He also had no doubt that the government heavied Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co into NOT buying Hummer.

Monk has better news for the Hummer employees though. He believes that the defence industry will still want Hummers, so production will not shut down completely.

That’s something at least for the very nervous Hummer people. They may have built cars that were environmentally unconscionable for many, but these people are not the product they produce.

- Phil Kafcaloudes