India's Economic Times reports that both Tata and Indian truck maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. are interested in buying the iconic American brand should General Motors Corp. formally put the unit on the block. GM recently announced a strategic review of the maker of large military-inspired sports-utility vehicles.
Earlier this month, Ford Motor Co. completed the sale of both Land Rover and Jaguar to Tata, giving the Indian automaker a toehold in Europe and the U.S. -- a first for any Indian automaker (rival Mahindra reportedly is building a network of 300 U.S. dealers).
The Economic Times doesn't offer much rationale for why Tata, the maker of the world's thriftiest car, the Nano, would want one of the world's most excessive auto brands, but we'll venture a guess: military vehicles. While the models GM would unload aren't military grade -- the military models are still made by AM General LLC -- they certainly would offer a buyer an opportunity to spread production costs of a lower-volume military vehicle with a similar higher-volume civilian vehicle. Both Tata and Mahindra are independently developing Humm-Vee alternatives for the Indian military, and Land Rover's military vehicles were part of the attraction for Tata in that deal.
Following the same logic, other manufacturers of Humm-Vee style vehicles like Russia's GAZ and China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. could show interest in a Hummer auction. - Matthew Wurtzel
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Comments
With Land Rover already in its garage, could Tata Motors Ltd. have room for the Hummer too? If Indian press reports have it right, the answer is yes. 
This story contains a serious error.
AM General has not licensed any firm to produce the HMMWV for the Chinese military.
Craig C. Mac Nab
Director, Public Relations
AM General