A Chinese automaker, the Sichuan Automobile Industry Group, denied Wednesday it was planning to buy General Motors' Hummer-brand sports utility vehicle unit.

"There is no such thing at all," said An Zhifu, board director of the Sichuan Fulin Industrial Group Co. Ltd., the parent company of the Chinese automaker, in response to a report by Bloomberg News.

"Our focus this year is to build a new auto plant in Mianyang to manufacture new energy vehicles," he told Xinhua over telephone.

He said the new plant, with a total investment of 3 billion yuan (US$441.2 million), is designed to produce 150,000 vehicles per year.

He did not provide further details.

Citing unidentified sources, Bloomberg News reported Monday that Sichuan Auto, a small car firm based in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan Province, was considering a 500-million-dollar bid for GM's Hummer line.

Sichuan Auto reports an annual capacity of manufacturing 5,000 buses, 30,000 cars and 50,000 engines. It was founded in May 1994 and was bought by Fulin Group in August 2006.

The Fulin Group, based in Mianyang in Sichuan, was founded in December 1995. It reports a total assets of about 4 billion yuan. Its business involves such industries as transport, real estate, auto production, medicine and commerce. The company sells Yema-brand sports utility vehicles and buses.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2009)