GM in Talks With Isuzu to Sell Truck Unit

General Motors Corp., trying to prove its viability to the U.S. Treasury Department, is in talks to sell a division that produces work trucks to Isuzu Motors Ltd., a local union leader said.

The United Auto Workers has agreed to allow the transfer of the unit if talks are successful, said Local 598 Chairman Mark Hawkins, citing a UAW letter about the talks. The plant in Flint, Michigan, employs about 525 hourly workers and produced about 22,000 trucks last year, GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said. GM doesn't provide revenue or profit figures for the unit.

The Detroit automaker is trying to cut labor and debt costs and sell assets to persuade Treasury that it will be viable and should keep $13.4 billion in pledged government loans GM says it needs to stay in business. Isuzu would keep making so-called medium-duty trucks at the factory for at least five more years under a plan being discussed, Hawkins said. GM spokeswoman Julie Gibson said no decision has been reached.

"We would rather have Isuzu than Navistar because Isuzu will keep the jobs in Flint,” Hawkins said, referring to an earlier plan to have Navistar International Corp. buy the unit.

Todd Bloom, vice president of marketing for Isuzu’s U.S. commercial truck sales unit in Cerritos, California, said he's unaware of any discussions between GM and Tokyo-based Isuzu over a possible sale of the Flint operation.
GM fell 12 cents to $2.89 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Navistar, of Warrenville, Illinois, agreed in December 2007 to buy the unit, which makes the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC TopKick work vehicles commonly used as dump trucks and cargo haulers. That deal expired in August, and GM has said it's still studying options including a sale. GM and Isuzu, Japan’s largest maker of light-duty trucks, jointly make diesel engines in the U.S. and Poland.

The Flint Journal reported the Isuzu UAW letter on Jan. 29.

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