GM has a few other pieces of its viability plan that are still in the works. When GM laid out its initial plan in December, the company said that it would explore options for its bloated family of brands, including selling or shuttering Saab, Saturn, and Hummer, while shrinking Pontiac down to a brand selling just two cars—likely to be the G8 sedan and the Solstice two-seater—at Buick/GMC dealerships.
The company has explored selling Hummer, Saab, and Saturn. Right now, there are two bidders for Hummer—a Chinese automaker and a private equity player—according to sources familiar with the sale efforts. The sources would not identify the bidders.
But it won't be an easy sell. Even with gasoline prices down, Hummer's aging product line is drawing fewer buyers. Hummer sales fell 62% in January. GM was talking to two players, former Hummer owner AM General and China's Chengfeng Motors. But both have backed away, say sources involved with the sale efforts.
GM still needs to peel Saab out from GM's European business and recapitalize it. For the past month, GM has been in intense negotiations with the Swedish government to get loans through one of two programs. One program has up to $24 billion available to Swedish industrial firms from the European Investment Bank, and another program has up to $600 million available from Sweden's government, said Frank Nilsson, a spokesman for the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise & Energy.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db20090210_067970.htm?campaign_id=headlines_daily
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