Shreveport Mayor Travels to China for HUMMER Networking

With Shreveport, Louisiana’s GM plant scheduled to be shut down by 2012, Mayor Cedric Glover is in China this week to tout the benefits of keeping HUMMER production in his town in the long-term. Doing so would retain jobs in Shreveport, and also keep the large, limited-use facility humming for years to come.

Currently, the Shreveport plant produces the HUMMER H3, H3T, as well as the Canyon and Colorado pickup-trucks. Just over two years ago, GM spent around $70 million to expand the facility for H3T production. After the HUMMER deal is finalized, production tooling from GM’s South Africa plant will be transported to the Shreveport plant, where production of HUMMER’s international, right-hand-drive models will begin.

Mayor Glover will take part in a three-day economic conference, where officials from several countries, the World Bank, Forbes 500 companies, and even the United Nations will be in attendance. To the benefit of Louisiana taxpayers, the Chinese Government is footing the bill for Glover and his wife to attend.

“We hope to come back with a full list of individuals from China that we can call upon as we look to complete the Hummer transaction,” Glover told the Shreveport Times earlier this week. “We will certainly be looking to connect with companies, groups, individuals who may have some interest in Shreveport from a business standpoint.”

Glover also mentioned he’ll bring some levity to the group by taking along some wind-up HUMMER toys to hand out.

Following his trip to China, Mayor Glover will travel to Washington D.C. to further bolster his city’s chances of retaining HUMMER manufacturing for the long-term.