GM may ditch medium-duty truck business

General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, may sell its medium-duty truck business as it focuses on making a profit from building cars and light trucks.

"We are considering options for our medium-duty truck business to better position the unit for growth," GM spokeswoman Melisa Tezanos said Wednesday. She wouldn't comment on potential buyers. GM doesn't break out the unit's financial results.

The unit last year built about 40,800 Chevrolet Kodiak, GMC TopKick and Isuzu T-Series models, for uses such as dump trucks and delivery vehicles. The Flint Journal reported this week that Navistar International Corp. may be interested in the Flint-based unit, which employs about 500 people. Roy Wiley, a spokesman for Warrenville, Ill.-based Navistar, declined to comment.

"This deal makes so much sense, I hope it gets done," Bear Stearns analyst Peter Nesvold said Wednesday.

He estimated that the medium-duty truck business has annual revenue of about $2 billion and is worth $450 million to $500 million. If Navistar were the buyer, the new production could add 50 cents to $1 a share to that company's earnings, he wrote in a report Tuesday. More at Detroit News