Looking to expand its global presence beyond its native China, Beijing Automotive Group announced they would like to acquire a “mid to high-level brand” in either Europe or the United States, and already has a list of potential brands in mind.
Reuters reports BAIC originally looked towards Europe for their potential acquisition, but has now expanded their search to the U.S. President Dong Haiyang told reporters that his company’s brand is little-known outside of China, and sees a European or American brand as a shortcut into the global marketplace.
At home, BAIC purchased two smaller rivals in 2013, and signed a joint investment agreement with Daimler AG last month, delivering $5.51 billion into their joint venture in order to double production by 2015.
I guess that rules out GM.
Ha. OK great. What brand.
Honestly.
No way there is a MB, Audi, BMW, Porsche on the table. Jaguar and Land Rover are taken. Volvo is taken. I don’t see any of those being offered up for sale.
In the USA? Nothing. Not even Lincoln.
So what does that leave? Alfa? Ferrari? Maserati? Aston? Lotus? Good luck.
This is a wish. I don’t think it will happen.
How about the French?
This sort of declaration does seem pointless and clueless. Was Reuteurs having a slow day? A BAIC exec had nothing better to do?
These shortcuts exist but they’re not usually called that. Calling them by name only adds to your company’s perceived incompetence.
Dogs that bark don’t bite.
+100
I cannot imagine what brand they have in mind, unless GM was willing to part with Buick. Or maybe they want to buy the tattered wreckage of Saab?
GM would absolutely not sell it’s funnel for Opel products worldwide.
China capitalist best capitalist.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/02/psa-donfeng-deal-injects-new-capital-extended-life-into-peugeot/#comment-2817961
What are you talking about, there are tons of brands available;
Oldsmobile
Plymouth
Mercury
DeSoto
Hummer
If your tastes are more Euro then we have Sterling, Triumph, Wartburg and others.
…Correct, this is a stupid story w/o more meat.
Pontiac
Lagonda
DeTomaso
Bertone
And if BAIC came with a big enough check in hand, I think that Mulally or Barra would seriously consider offering up one of their orphan brands, though the old dealers might get in the way unless they got a piece of the deal. Money talks.
Strange, I don’t have permission to edit my own comment? Anyway, I meant to include Sergio in the post. He would likely be open to offering up Plymouth for some much needed cash.
Lancia has been effectively abandoned as well. Once upon a time it was a premium brand.
Speaking of Sergio, how about adding AMC to the list of available brands?
Ok, I’m half-joking here…
A new AMC Gremlin made in China? Wow, that might be even more unreliable than the original.
It could be called a “CMC”.
Imagine the flashbulbs popping at the unveiling of the new all-new, retro-inspired 2016 “CMC Gremlin”!
I wonder who owns the names of the killed off GM brands. ‘New GM’ or ‘Old GM’. While I doubt ‘New GM’ would ever sell the naming rights of Pontiac, Olds, Saturn…., ‘Old GM’ sure looks like it could use some cash to deal with the ignition switch issue.
Hummer and Saturn were sold off in 2009-10. All of the other brands, including some of the original “companion” brands are still owned by GM. They probably make more money on licensing stuff from the now-shuttered brands than they did selling the cars (humor).
As much as I’d love to see Oldsmobile or Pontiac come back, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Like LaSalle, once gone, you’re gone. Maybe every so often they’ll dig up the bones and put out some rumors about a renaissance, but I can’t imagine it ever happening.
Saturn was never sold. Roger Penske was looking at buying it but he couldn’t make a business case where he could make money. Initially GM would continue production of the vehicles that had a stablemate as long as they continued that stablemate unchanged. After that he was to find his own vehicles to re-badge. The problem was that GM was unable to make a profit selling them so how would a middle man be able to take a slice of the pie when the pie didn’t exist. It was also highly unlikely that re-badging Nissans as was his long term plan would have resulted in any piece of the pie for the middle man as well as it would be unlikely that Saturn would be able to maintain the handful of loyal buyers selling a Versa or Cube with the Saturn badge and for those customers that would want one why not just go to Nissan.
I know it sounds funny, but 2009 was sooo long ago. I thought Penske ended up with Saturn, but your timeline sounds correct. I thought it was a Ssangyong/Nissan that was supposed to be the replacement for the GM/Saturn cars.
Just imagine, we could have had a Ssangyong Rodimus rebadged as a Saturn! That would have been a great replacement for the Vue…
Though these brands are dead, their owners would never relinquish them.
Imagine if you will, GM sells Olds to BAIC. Then what?
BAIC makes an Oldsmobile Chanamerica XL, and people pour into their local Chevy dealer with questions – who is this and what is it, why isn’t this Olds made by GM? What about their history? Does GM own BAIC? Can I service my older Olds at the BAIC-Olds dealer rather than my GM dealer?
NEVER going to happen.
I had the same thoughts scrolling through the thread. People identify brand with mfg, if they are one in the same (such as Volvo) you might trick some folks. When they are not (plymouth, pontiac, olds, desoto, etc) there’s no way.
Consider how many younger people have little recollection of Oldsmobile or Plymouth as brands associated with mfrs, but would recognize the name over something totally new. As to older folks who do remember, let them pepper GM dealers with questions. The dealers can happily point out that the Chanamerica is made in China, so wouldn’t they really like to look at the new Verano?
Unless we’re talking about newborns, everyone has a vague recollection about Olds, heck they are still driving around. Plymouth had been badge engineered for so long it lost all identity in the 80s no less, the scheme might work better with this brand.
I think you’re conflating shuttered brands with those names being available.
I don’t think ANY of those names are actually available.
Didn’t GM make it clear that Saturn was the only brand it was willing to part with?
I’ll buy a 30 year old Yugo before I’m buying a ChiCom automobile.
YUGO! I’ll bet that nameplate’s available. They might be able to snare Studebaker and Packard together, or even Checker. I think Studebaker bought out Pierce-Arrow too, and that car was ultra-lux in the 1920s. Good advertising can revive any of those nameplates, using photos of classic models.
BIAC sells vehicles in Australia and believe it or not they are not at all bad for a Chinese vehicle.
The Tunland pickup truck is an example of how the Chinese can make an impact in the US market.
It runs a ISF Cummins, Getrag transmission, Borg Warner transfer case, Dana axles, Bosch electronics, etc.
When they were first released in 2012 they had some niggly issues, which from reading reviews they seem to be ironing out.
The Tunland pickup is marginally bigger than our current largest midsizers and has an almost 8′ long bed.
Would I buy one, not yet, give them a few more years. But this company appears to be putting in an effort.
http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and-reviews/car-reviews-road-tests/2014_foton_tunland_ute_review_81412_20140116
Thats a nice looking truck. If it was sold cheaply in the US I think fleets would eat it up.
@caltemus
Considering Nissan’s recent interest by placing ISF Cummins in a Frontier I don’t see this as a large issue. The ISF is only made in one huge factory near Beijing, next to the BAIC Foton factory.
We have the fully blinged, leather and everything crew cab 4×4 Cummins powered pickup here for $36 000.
Looking at the price differences between similar vehicles between Australia and the US it should be around $24 000 in the US.
Imagine a 4×4 Cummins powered crew cab for that price in the US.
A Cummins powered 2WD pickup would cost around $16 000 in the US.
You can see why the chicken is staunchly defended by the socialist bloggers on this site.
Hupmobile?
Packard.
I’d rather have a picture of the Hupmobile plant as my avatar, but GM turned everything over there into Poletown.
Quelque chose Francais peut-etre?
You would sure think GM could use the money to finance this recall fiasco and sell these guys Saturn and all of its tooling. Throw in a small print clause having them assume parts supply and warranty requirements. Mary would be a hero. Well, maybe not, but she would be on the road to public rehabilitation, along with her employer.
Why create a direct competitor using your own 25 years of branding and goodwill? If GM were still in liquidation mode sure, but not now.
Fiatsler.
Edsel?
BAIC could buy recently departed or weak brand names such as Suzuki or Mitsu rights in N.A. (more likely the former)
Isuzu is always open to selling out.
I was thinking Izusu but I don’t see it working out. Suzuki rights probably would since they just departed and you could market things as a “comeback” to the proles. Suzuki rights in five years, prob not so much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States
I’m partial to Seven Little Buffaloes.
@Richard Chen
You’ll probably find some of those names are already ‘owned’ and registered with other companies like Askam in Turkey.
Askam started out as a Chrysler subsidiary and uses the name of De Soto and Fargo that I know of. Mercedes has input into the company as well.
http://www.askam.com.tr/v2/english/company_profile.aspx
That list is a gold mine of possibilities.
“Carbon” would be perfect for Beijing Motor Co., named after the air in the Chinese capital city.
“Leach” for their economic policies.
“Liberty” for the sheer irony.
“Nu-Klea” for the cars they export to Iran.
Logically, though, going after Saturn would get them access to the greatest variety of design techology and technical information.
They had better not be setting their sights on International Harvester…
When GM agreed to sell the Saturn brand to Roger Penske the name and a supply of cars and parts for a limited time was all that was to be included, no plant, no equipment, and certainly no intellectual property. At this point I doubt that GM would even want to sell the name and they certainly aren’t going to sell the Captiva the only Saturn left to be re-badged.
http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and-reviews/car-reviews-road-tests/2014_foton_tunland_ute_review_81412_20140116
looks like the Indians will be surrounding the GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan wagens soon.
Is not going to be long before they head to our shore I guess.
@blowfish
As much as many of us don’t like, the Chinese and Indians will catch up.
The Chinese in particular are catching up rapidly. They are buying technology and processes from us.
We can block their products or out compete. I’d rather us try and out compete as this is better for the consumer.
Some on this site stick their heads in the sand and pretend that it is impossible for these countries to ever amount too very much with an attitude similar to the infamous air of ‘French Arrogance’.
They will catch up and if we are not careful overtake us. We must compete fairly. If we don’t we’ll end up with the second rate products one day.
True enough.
Case in point; Korea.
They’ve come a long way since the Hyundai Excel and Kia Sephia…..
Cozy Coupe?
I think that one is still made in the US.
Bingo! Though I was thinking Polonez.
I don’t see GM upsetting SAIC by selling them a brand, but could happen.
The US have plenty of brands that could be used. Same goes for Europe.
The 2 Swedish brands are already controlled by the Chinese. I don’t see why BAIC couldn’t just buy Geely or the owners of NEVS and start from there.
As it sits, I see the effort being put forward by QOROS as the most promising one.
I’m sorry but I just don’t see any US brands that still have enough brand recognition that the current owners would be willing to sell. GM isn’t going to give up Saturn, Olds or Pontiac and of them only Olds could have been considered mid market and it has been gone long enough that it is of little value. Plymouth was bottom of the barrel and gone long enough and had such a small presence for a long time before they were axed that it isn’t worth anything, though I could see Fiat selling it if they could. Mercury is the closest as far as freshness and being considered mid market but I don’t see Ford parting with it.