Plan is for Hummer to continue in Shreveport

Production of commercial Hummer vehicles will continue in Shreveport through at least June 2011 if a deal by General Motors to sell the brand to a Chinese company goes through. GM signed a definitive sale agreement today with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. The sale must be approved by U.S. and Chinese regulators. Under the agreement, the former GM plant in Shreveport, now owned by Motors Liquidation Co., which leases the plant to the automaker, would continue producing the H3 model and H3T pickup truck on a contract basis until June 2011, with a one-year option until June 2012. The Shreveport plant is currently scheduled to close no later than June 2012. The plant once employed about 3,000 workers, but layoffs and buyouts have reduced that number to just over 700. The head of United Auto Workers Local 2166, Doug Ebey, called the agreement “an immediate positive” for the Shreveport workers. “It keeps us working through at least 2011 and possibly 2012,” Ebey says. State officials said more work was ahead to convince Hummer’s prospective new owner to continue assembling vehicles in Shreveport on a long-term basis. “We currently expect that Hummer executives will consider a variety of locations for long-term manufacturing operations, including but not limited to Shreveport,” Louisiana Economic Development secretary Stephen Moret said in a statement.