Reuters
July 26, 2008 - 12:00 a.m. EST

PONTIAC, Michigan (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has a number of potential buyers expressing interest in acquiring its Hummer SUV brand as it quickly moves toward a sale, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said on Friday.

"We have some interested buyers, and I can't tell you anything beyond that right now, but we are moving as fast as we can," Wagoner told reporters in Pontiac, Michigan, on the sidelines of an event to mark the opening of a new GM engineering and development center.

GM, which last week announced plans to cut $10 billion in costs as part of a plan to shore up liquidity, has faced scrutiny about its brand strategy and whether it would sell or close any brands beyond Hummer.

But Wagoner said GM was committed to its Saab brand and planned to make an upcoming Saab model in North America, in an attempt to improve the brand's profitability.

"Saab has been a critical part of our European portfolio and has the potential to be quite a good moneymaker for us, Wagoner said.

The news comes a day after GM told its employees they could extend their special employee discount to one person beyond their immediate family with some exceptions through July 31 to spur sales.

Wagoner also said July U.S. auto sales to date appeared to be trending at about the same pace as June when industrywide sales plunged to a 15-year low.

"So far this month feels not too different from last month, definitely not a big upswing or anything," he said.

Wagoner said GM would continue to offer incentives as it did in June, when a zero-percent financing offer for six years helped the automaker hold its No. 1 spot in the U.S. market despite an 8-percent drop in sales.

"What we saw last month is that while consumers are not particularly active, if you offer something you can keep sales moving," he said.

Wagoner said the U.S. economic outlook remained "pretty uncertain," citing high prices for oil and commodities.

"You know the housing market, I'm not sure it's getting worse but it doesn't seem to have really garnered any upward momentum, and financial markets are, from day to day, uncertain," he said. "Until that resolves, we have to be ready for a pretty modest level of economic activity."

GM is set to report its second-quarter results in the coming weeks and all the automakers will report their July auto sales in early August.

General Motors shares fell $1.10, or 8.5 percent, to $11.90 in Friday trade. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $43.02 last October to $8.82 earlier this month.

On a market-cap basis, the company is by far the smallest member of the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI with a market cap of $6.7 billion. Next on the list is Alcoa Inc (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) with a cap of $25.9 billion.