DETROIT/HONG KONG (Reuters) - General Motors has approached previous bidders for its Hummer unit after a deal to sell the brand to an obscure Chinese firm collapsed, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

GM has reached out to the companies whose offers for the military-derived SUV line were turned down last year when the U.S. automaker agreed to sell Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, said the source, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private.

At least four Chinese companies were among the firms GM contacted to gauge their interest in recent days, the source said, declining to give specific names.

On Wednesday afternoon, February 24th, we received word, along with the rest of the world, that GM's sale of HUMMER to Tengzhong cannot be completed.  It seems that Tengzhong failed to gain the necessary approvals from a myriad of Chinese Governmental Agencies that were required to close the deal. 

While certainly not the news that our loyal HUMMER owners wanted to hear, we can simply report the facts as we get them.  It has been a long and winding road from June 2008, when GM announced a strategic review of the HUMMER Brand.  Below is GM's official press release.  We can add that, despite what is being said publicly, there will likely be window during which GM will entertain other potential offers for Hummer that it was prohibited from entertaining while under contract with Tengzhong.  We also want to reassure our customers that General Motors will fully back all HUMMER warranty terms, as well as ensure that parts are available for the life of current Hummer vehicles.  HUMMER by KARL intends to stand behind our customers and continue to provide the service you've come to expect.  More to follow...

 TOYOTA Vehicle Safety….

 There is an old saying “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.  Somehow, that may be the case with Toyota.  And this isn't the first time we've brought up Toyota's recall issues ... check out our post back on January 31, 2007.

 Sure, Toyota makes great cars, but even great cars can have issues.  Afterall, today’s modern automobiles are designed and built by all manufacturers using a variety of components sourced from a variety of suppliers around the globe.  The days of each manufacturer building cars made exclusively of parts produced by themselves is a notion from a bygone era.  Today’s auto manufacturing occurs in a global market.

NEW CANAAN, CT - February 20, 2010:  On January 12th an earthquake rocked the capital city of Port-au-Prince in Haiti and instantly this poverty stricken land became the center of much of the world’s media attention.  It is sad that it takes an epic event like this to shine a light on one of the neediest countries on our earth, but this is reality.

While the public outpouring of support, both thoughts and prayers as well as financially, is a sign of the true goodwill in all of us, I’d like to take a moment in the midst of this crisis to point out how critical charitable giving is on a year round basis.  Whether its home or abroad, in our backyard or around the globe, there are always needs far greater than any of our own at any moment in time.  As Americans, as members of the human race, we each need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we do enough for others.  And we need to ask this question every day; not just when the media shines a bright light on the latest natural disaster or epic event.