Monday, May 24, 2010 - New Canaan, CT

ANNOUNCING the Second Annual Northeast HUMMER Run, sponsored by The HUMER Club!

As reported by Marty Padgett on TheCarConnection.com  - April 08, 2010

GM Closing Hummer Despite Offer on the Table

Utah-Based Raser Technologies' plan to make the SUV specialist "green" reportedly denied by GM.

Hummer Era Comes to an End

 As one of our HUMMER owners, we wanted to write personally with an update on HUMMER. On a conference call to Dealer’s today, GM announced they were unable to find a buyer for the HUMMER Brand and that they will begin “wind down” of the brand immediately. This is obviously a very sad day for all HUMMER enthusiasts – including all HUMMER customers, dealers, and factory employees.

First and foremost, we want you to know that KARL Chevrolet HUMMER is not going anywhere. For over 82 years, the last 12 years with HUMMER added to our line-up, our family has been proud to offer professional, personal assistance with vehicle sales and service.

AS REPORTED BY AUTOMOTIVE NEWS, April 6, 2010 - UPDATED 5:07pm ET

DETROIT -- General Motors Co. is shutting down its Hummer SUV brand for good, taking the last of its four discarded <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />U.S. brands off the market.

GM had said it would consider offers to buy Hummer after a deal to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to receive Chinese government approval in February. Now GM has decided to move forward with closing the brand, Hummer spokesman Nick Richards said.

With the brand shutting down, Hummer CEO Jim Taylor has retired, effective immediately, Richards said.

HUMMER CEO Compares Buyer Search to Speed Dating

“I call it very fast speed dating. We have to look at each other, see if we like each other and then get it done very quickly,” HUMMER CEO Jim Taylor told Automotive News regarding their search to find a buyer for the brand. The original plan to sell HUMMER to China’s Tengzhong fell through Wednesday after Chinese regulatory officials refused to allow the purchase, leaving GM with the task of finding a new buyer in the next 60 to 75 days.

“The next step in the process is to sit down with those interested parties and figure out who is serious and who just doesn’t make any sense,” Taylor said. “Some are well-known equity houses, who do this for a living. Some are just those who say, ‘I want to buy it.’”

Taylor added that his team is, “going to do everything in our power to bring this home in the next couple of months,” assuring that the fight is not over yet.

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.

General Motors Co. is examining offers for Hummer in the wake of a Chinese machinery maker's failed bid for the SUV brand, press reports said GM is giving prior bidders a fresh look after Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to win approval from Chinese regulators for its planned purchase, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bloomberg News, citing five people briefed on the talks, said interested parties have done little or no due diligence and GM may still wind down the brand.

Hummer spokesman Nick Richards declined to comment on the reports. He said GM is willing to entertain other offers during the wind down process.GM's sale this week of Saab arose out of a similar situation: Spyker Cars NV entered a bid after a proposed sale to Sweden's Koenigsegg Group AB fell through in November.

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...

What’s up with HUMMER?

As of 2/22/2010, Here are some simple, straightforward facts:

Fast Facts