[FUTURE_OF_GM]

BEIJING (AP) -- China's planning agency is likely to reject a Chinese company's bid to acquire General Motors Corp.'s Hummer unit, in part because its gas-guzzling vehicles conflict with Beijing's conservation goals, state radio reported.

So.... The new Hummer could only produce gas-guzzling vehicles?!?! These people don't believe in innovation or vision at all?

What a defeatist outlook... Maybe China really IS becoming westernized. Because with attitudes like that, you'd think they were american.

The National Development and Reform Commission is also likely to say Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp., a maker of construction machinery, lacks expertise to run Hummer, China National Radio said late Thursday. It cited no source.

Wow... Do they even know the owners of the company, or is that just a 'general assumption'?

Auto industry analysts questioned how Tengzhong, which makes construction vehicles such as cement mixers and tow trucks, could succeed with Hummer, known as "Han Ma," or Bold Horse, in China.

Doesn't seem like that big of a jump to me... In fact, it reminds me a lot of International (Navistar) except in reverse.

GM said the planned sale would save some 3,000 jobs in the United States. Tengzhong said it would invest in research to create more fuel-efficient Hummers and would keep Hummer's headquarters and manufacturing in the United States.

Maybe this is the REAL reason that China is sour on the deal.

Communist authorities are encouraging companies to expand abroad to diversify the economy but have cautioned against being too hasty or ambitious.

See above statement... THEY (the chinese government) know that they have a real opportunity to become the premier world leader now. They also know that, in the eyes of most of the world, China=cheap. Therefore, they don't want a rogue company to overstep it's ability and ruin their chances of reinventing their image around the world. Because one failed Chinese company, especially on this continent and in this HIGHLY visible market would damage China's reputation even more.

*** I think GM should just keep Hummer and sell it along side Cadillac as a premier truck division. Use the HX as a new start to more efficient and more classy models and target LR. Then the GM car buyer could channel like this: Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac and the GM truck buyer could channel: Chevrolet-GMC-Hummer.