Hummer Only Wants Money From Tengzhong

The somewhat controversial choice GM made for its Hummer brand, when it chose Chinese company Tengzhong as the winner of the Hummer bid, is slowly crawling to a conclusion. After several reports stated that the Chinese will shift some of the production to China, {aD}Hummer's CEO, Jim Taylor, said yesterday that his company would rather have the Chinese bring only money into the company, and not get involved, too much, with decision making.

"All I need is cash," Taylor told China Daily. "We were looking for those companies that have the financial resources to fund our future development, and keep the brand and dealers stay and survive."

The American official stated that the two companies each know something different: the Chinese are familiar with the Chinese market, while the Americans know much about Hummer's products. As a result, Tengzhong does not need to get involved in the company in other role than as an investor.

To make his case, Taylor did a bit of reverse psychology, as he gave the example of Warren Buffett's investment in China's BYD Auto. The American brings the money, while BYD does the work.

By saying this, Taylor killed two birds with one stone, or at least this is what he hopes. On the one hand, if the Chinese do not get involved in day to day operations, it will pretty much be business as usual for Hummer.

On the other hand, not getting involved will also mean the Chinese will not bring their own people into the company. Useless to say, Hummer does fear some lay-offs, despite Tengzhong statements.

The deal between Tengzhong and Hummer will be concluded by June 28, according to a report by sina.com via Gasgoo.